WITHDRAWN: An Exploratory Study of the Predictive Effect of Child Behavior on Working Alliance Among Foster Parents: The Amplifying Effect of Kin

Background: This study explores the association between child behavior, kinship status, and working alliance among a sample of resource parents. Working alliance refers to the quality of relationship between individuals with shared objectives and has been associated with beneficial outcomes such as increased compliance in treatment planning and improved disciplinary and emotional care of children. Effective parent-caseworker relationships may promote affirmative caregiving for children with often challenging behaviors. This dynamic may also be impacted differentially if the resource parent is related to the foster child. 

Methods: Data were collected using a cross-sectional needs assessment survey administered to resource parents contracted by a populous north eastern state’s child welfare authority (n=331). The study’s dependent variable, frequency of working alliance, was reported by resource parents using an amended version of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI-s). The sample's average alliance frequency was "sometimes" (Average 3.9, SD=1.2) on a 7-point scale from "never" to "always." Child behavior, the main independent variable, was derived from Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scales used with younger (1.5-5 yrs) and older (6-17 yrs) youth. Scale results were averaged and standardized to compose a behavior index allowing cross-age group inclusion (Range= –1.5-3.7). Regression using OLS and linear probability methods were used to predict the effect of child behavior on working alliance. Models included controls for child, parent, and household characteristics. Kinship status was tested as a moderator.

Results: Results indicated that higher levels of child behavior problems were associated with lower levels in working alliance among all resource parents (b=-.25, t = -4.81). Among kin families, however, the association of child behavior with working alliance was stronger and predicted a further reduction in alliance frequency rating (b non-kin= -.17, t=-2.97; b kin= -.54, t=-3.15). Dichotomizing the child behavior variable to assess the moderating role of kinship by intensity of behavior (high vs. low/mid) indicated that the effect held. Preliminary analyzes differentiating between type of alliance (task/goal vs. bond) and type of behavior (internalizing vs. externalizing) support these results.  

Implications: These findings suggest that child behavior may be both affirming of, and a challenge for, alliance and that the effect is amplified when the resource parent is related to the foster child. Perhaps resource parent alliance ratings reflect a belief that caseworkers interpret the child’s behavior as a reflection of their shared family dynamic – for better or worse. Future studies should further explore distinctions between kin and non-kin resource parents to assess the extent and reason for the differential response associated with familial dyads. Such explorations can provide insight for directing foster parent or caseworker training to contextualize the influence of shared associations.