TY - JOUR
T1 - Educational outcomes of care leavers and their matched peers
T2 - A gender perspective
AU - Achdut, Netta
AU - Benbenishty, Rami
AU - Zeira, Anat
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2025/3
Y1 - 2025/3
N2 - Background: Educational gaps between care leavers and their same-age peers not in care are well documented. However, little is known about gender disparities in educational outcomes between care leavers and their matched peers. Objectives: To examine and predict secondary school educational attainments (EA) and enrollment in postsecondary education (PSE) by (1) study group: care leavers versus their matched peers, (2) gender: men versus women, (3) interaction between study group and gender. Participants and setting: Participants were alumni of educational (n = 21,654) and therapeutic (n = 3765) residential care facilities from 16 consecutive birth cohorts and same-age doubled-sized matched comparison groups (n = 43,308; n = 7530, respectively). Methods: Bivariate analyses examined differences in secondary school EA and PSE enrollment, and multinomial and binary logistic models predicted secondary school EA and PSE enrollment. Results: Care leavers from both residential settings showed poorer secondary school EA and lower PSE enrollment rates than their matched peers. Gaps between the study groups were far more pronounced in therapeutic facilities than in educational facilities. Women from all study groups outperformed men in both outcomes. Generally, there were greater disparities between female care leavers and their same-sex peers than between male care leavers and their same-sex peers, particularly in therapeutic settings. A complex pattern of interaction between study group and gender emerged in both residential settings. Conclusions: Greater efforts and resources should be allocated to promote adolescents' academic performance in both types of settings to minimize the gaps between care leavers and their matched peers and between women and men, with special attention to men in therapeutic facilities.
AB - Background: Educational gaps between care leavers and their same-age peers not in care are well documented. However, little is known about gender disparities in educational outcomes between care leavers and their matched peers. Objectives: To examine and predict secondary school educational attainments (EA) and enrollment in postsecondary education (PSE) by (1) study group: care leavers versus their matched peers, (2) gender: men versus women, (3) interaction between study group and gender. Participants and setting: Participants were alumni of educational (n = 21,654) and therapeutic (n = 3765) residential care facilities from 16 consecutive birth cohorts and same-age doubled-sized matched comparison groups (n = 43,308; n = 7530, respectively). Methods: Bivariate analyses examined differences in secondary school EA and PSE enrollment, and multinomial and binary logistic models predicted secondary school EA and PSE enrollment. Results: Care leavers from both residential settings showed poorer secondary school EA and lower PSE enrollment rates than their matched peers. Gaps between the study groups were far more pronounced in therapeutic facilities than in educational facilities. Women from all study groups outperformed men in both outcomes. Generally, there were greater disparities between female care leavers and their same-sex peers than between male care leavers and their same-sex peers, particularly in therapeutic settings. A complex pattern of interaction between study group and gender emerged in both residential settings. Conclusions: Greater efforts and resources should be allocated to promote adolescents' academic performance in both types of settings to minimize the gaps between care leavers and their matched peers and between women and men, with special attention to men in therapeutic facilities.
KW - Administrative data
KW - Care leavers
KW - Educational attainments
KW - Gender
KW - Propensity score matching
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85215859049&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107276
DO - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107276
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C2 - 39864235
AN - SCOPUS:85215859049
SN - 0145-2134
VL - 161
JO - Child Abuse and Neglect
JF - Child Abuse and Neglect
M1 - 107276
ER -