Adolescents in foster care can be quite resilient, yet they also are at risk for developing internalizing and externalizing mental health concerns. Positive family relationships are central to adolescent mental health, and these relationships can be complex for youth in foster care placements. Accordingly, there can be significant heterogeneity in the mental health symptoms of youth in foster care. The aims of this study were to identify distinct subgroups of youth patterns of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and determine the extent to which positive biological and foster parent relationships predicted profiles of low youth mental health symptoms. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (N = 343) and a person-centered analytic approach, results revealed four distinct profiles of youths’ mental health symptoms, those with: high internalizing and high externalizing symptoms, high internalizing and moderate externalizing symptoms, moderate internalizing and moderate externalizing symptoms, and low internalizing and low externalizing symptoms. Additionally, youth with better relationships with biological parents were less likely to be in the high symptoms group compared to the low symptoms group. These findings can be used to inform targeted intervention efforts aimed to lessen the mental health symptoms of youth in foster care.

寄养青少年的适应能力相当强，但他们也面临出现内化和外化心理健康问题的风险。积极的家庭关系对于青少年心理健康至关重要，对于寄养家庭中的青少年来说，这些关系可能很复杂。因此，寄养青少年的心理健康症状可能存在显着的异质性。本研究的目的是确定青少年内化和外化症状模式的不同亚组，并确定积极的亲生关系和寄养父母关系在多大程度上预测青少年心理健康症状较低的情况。使用全国儿童和青少年福祉调查 II ( N  = 343) 的数据和以人为本的分析方法，结果揭示了青少年心理健康症状的四种不同特征，即：高内化和高外化症状、高内化和中度外化症状，中度内化和中度外化症状，以及低内化和低外化症状。此外，与低症状组相比，与亲生父母关系较好的青少年不太可能属于高症状组。这些发现可用于为旨在减轻寄养青少年的心理健康症状的有针对性的干预措施提供信息。