Children in foster care (CFC) are at increased risk for negative developmental outcomes. Given the potential influence of foster parents’ parenting on the development of CFC, this literature review and meta-analysis provide an initial overview of how parenting factors in foster families relate to CFC’s developmental outcomes. We aimed to explore (1) whether foster parents’ parenting conceptualizations are related differently to various CFC developmental outcome variables and (2) how characteristics of foster parents and CFC moderate these associations. Following the recommendations of the PRISMA statement, we searched four databases in 2017 (with an update in May 2020). Forty-three primary studies were coded manually. The interrater agreement was 92.1%. Parenting variables were specified as parenting behavior, style, and goals and were distinguished further into functional and dysfunctional parenting. CFC development was divided into adaptive (including cognitive) development and maladaptive development. Meta-analyses could be performed for foster parenting behavior and developmental outcomes, as well as for functional parenting goals and maladaptive socioemotional outcomes in CFC. Associations between functional parenting behavior and adaptive child development were positive and negative for maladaptive child development, respectively. For dysfunctional, parenting effects were in the opposite direction. All effects were small to moderate. Similar results were found descriptively in the associations of parenting style and child developmental outcomes. We found similar effect sizes and directions of the associations between parenting behavior in foster families and the child’s developmental outcomes as those previously reported for biological families. These findings provide strong support for the significant role of parenting in foster families regarding children’s development in foster care.

寄养儿童 (CFC) 出现负面发育结果的风险增加。鉴于养父母的养育方式对 CFC 发展的潜在影响，本文献综述和荟萃分析初步概述了寄养家庭中的养育因素与 CFC 发展结果的关系。我们的目的是探讨（1）养父母的养育概念是否与各种 CFC 发展结果变量有不同的相关性，以及（2）养父母和 CFC 的特征如何调节这些关联。根据 PRISMA 声明的建议，我们在 2017 年检索了四个数据库（2020 年 5 月更新）。四十三个主要研究是手动编码的。参与者间的一致性为 92.1%。养育变量被指定为养育行为、风格和目标，并进一步区分为功能性养育和功能失调养育。 CFC的发展分为适应性（包括认知）发展和适应不良发展。可以对寄养养育行为和发展结果，以及 CFC 中的功能性养育目标和适应不良的社会情感结果进行荟萃分析。功能性养育行为与适应性儿童发展之间的关联对于适应不良的儿童发展分别呈正相关和负相关。对于功能失调的人来说，养育的影响是相反的。所有影响都是小到中等。在养育方式与儿童发展结果的关联中也发现了类似的结果。我们发现，寄养家庭的养育行为与孩子的发育结果之间的关联效应大小和方向与之前报道的亲生家庭相似。 这些发现有力地支持了寄养家庭中养育子女对寄养儿童发展的重要作用。