Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Human Services

Advisor

Sandra M. Harris

Abstract

Past research has shown that many youths in the United States age out of foster care group homes unprepared for independent living. Lack of connections to adults, low educational attainment, and homelessness are negative outcomes that have been linked to incarceration for youth who age out of foster care. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine how well the independent variables of connection to adults, educational attainment, and homelessness predict the dependent variable of likelihood of incarceration for African American males (n = 504) within 3 years after aging out of foster care group homes. The Bridges transition model was the theoretical framework for this study. Data came from the archived National Youth Transitional Database. Logistic regression revealed that connection to adults, educational attainment, and homelessness were not statistically significant predictors ("Ï?2 = 4.64,df = 3,p > .05) " of the likelihood of incarceration for African American males within 3 years of aging out of foster care group homes. The Nagelkerke R2 value showed that the independent variables accounted for only 2.9% of variance in the model. Additional research is needed to determine what services, skills, or resources African American males may need to minimize the likelihood of being incarcerated after aging out of foster care. Findings from this study could contribute to social change by providing professionals in human services and other fields with empirical evidence that there is a need to extend the range of services provided to African American males in foster care to minimize the likelihood of them experiencing incarceration after aging out of foster care.

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