Peer-reviewed article
Subjective Well-Being of Young People in Therapeutic Residential Care from a Gender Perspective
Carla González‐García, Alba Águila Otero, Carme Montserrat, Susana Lázaro‐Visa, Eduardo Martín et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined subjective well-being among 567 adolescents aged 14–18 in two types of residential care in Spain: therapeutic residential care for youth with severe emotional and behavioral problems, and general residential child care. Girls reported lower overall well-being than boys across all measured domains. Girls in therapeutic residential care reported particularly low well-being, though differences between residential program types were generally small.
Key points
- Few significant differences in subjective well-being between therapeutic residential care and other residential child care programs
- Young people in therapeutic residential care reported greater satisfaction with their own family than those in other residential care
- Young people in general residential child care reported higher satisfaction with their social groups and residential facilities
- Females reported lower subjective well-being than males across all domains measured
- The combination of being female and in therapeutic residential care was associated with particularly low well-being
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causality or determine whether low well-being precedes placement in therapeutic care or results from it. The research does not explain the mechanisms underlying gender differences or provide insight into what specific factors within therapeutic residential care environments affect girls' well-being.
Abstract
Abstract A growing body of research focus on subjective well-being (SWB) in adolescence; however there are few studies focus specifically on the residential care population and even fewer on differences by type of residential facility separately for males and females. This study aims to analyze SWB in therapeutic residential care (a residential program created to address youths with severe emotional and behavioral problems) in relation to young people in other kinds of residential child care (RCC). 567 adolescents aged 14-18 from Therapeutic Residential Care (TRC) (n=256) and RCC (n=311) participated in the study. Results showed few significant differences concerning the residential program factor. Satisfaction with their own family was greater for young people in TRC and satisfaction, both with the groups they belong to and with their own residential facility, rated higher among the RCC group. Regarding differences by sex, females reported less SWB in all the domains including overall life satisfaction. The effect of the interaction between sex and type of residential program showed that females in TRC reported SWB, particularly low. The main implications for research and intervention will be discussed.