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Tehila Refaeli

Phd student, Bar-Ilan University, Israeltehilarefaeli@gmail.com

The study was funded by the ISF- Israel Science Foundation

Care leavers -OverviewMany care leavers do not have family to rely on after leaving care.

They are expected to assume responsibility for all their basic needs.

Many of them have difficulties in independent life after care, including:

Accommodation instability

Difficulties in employment

Poverty and economic distress

Involvement in non-normative activities

Low educational achievements

(Casas & Montserrat, 2010; Courtney et al., 2011; Stein & Munro, 2008 )2

Studies indicate that only few are integrated in higher education:

Europe- 3%-13% in post-secondary and higher education(YiPPEE project, 2011)

U.S.- ages 25–33, Bachelor's completion rate 2.7%compared to 24.4% in the general population.(Pecora et al., 2006)

Longitudinal study in U.S.- 8% of care leavers had post secondary degree compared to 46% in the general population(Courtney at el., 2011)

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Higher Education among Graduates of Educational Residential Facilities (Care Leavers) in Israel -

* a national cohort of Jewish people born in 1981

(Zeira, Arzev, Benbenishty & Portnoy, 2013)

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Entire Cohort

(N=82,342)

Care Leavers

(N=2002)

57.1%44.9%Matriculation diploma

33.5%16.1%H. I. Qualification Exam

70.6%47.0%Enter H. I. (of qualified)

43.2%23.5%Enter H.I (of cohort)

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Self-efficacy for higher education

self-efficacy- one's belief in his/her own ability to activate his/her own motivation and cognitive resources and to act in the appropriate ways in order to succeed in specific situations (Bandura, 1977)

Here we examine self efficacy regarding a specific life domain- acquiring higher education.

Perceived academic self-efficacy among students was found to be related to academic success(Zajacova, Lynch, Espenshade, 2005; Bandura et al, 1996; Novotny, 2011).

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Study Goals Describe self-efficacy for higher education among care leavers

Identify predictors of self-efficacy for higher education:

Background

Placement

Education

Personal resources

Support sources

Current situation

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Method

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Interview methodResponse

rate

SampleTime

Self –administered

questionnaire

-287T1 Last year in care

By phone80.5% 231T2 1 year after leaving care

By phone76.6%220T3 4 years after leaving care

Sample characteristics

Gender: 60% males

Ages: M=22.5, SD=1.00, Md=22.3

Origin: 42.1% Ethiopia

23.7% Israel

20.5% Former Soviet Union(FSU)

Length of stay in care: M=5.37 years, SD=2.84, Range=0.5-16.

Placement stability: 69.5% one placement only.

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Academic characteristics

Learning disabilities diagnoses: 38.9%

The current level of education:

35.8% Partial matriculation

55.3% Full matriculation

22.6% Matriculation that meets the demands for higher education

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InstrumentsDependent variable: Self-efficacy for higher education

Self-perceived evaluation of the ability to deal with tasks related to integration in higher education.

Based on Benbenishty et al., 2008; 2009

8 items

Scale: 1-strongly agree to 4- strongly disagree

α=0.73

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Instruments-Independent variablesBackground (T1)- gender, year of birth, origin

Placement (T1)- kind of placement, placement stability and lengh of stay in placement

Education (T1, T3)- learning disabilities, academic achievement in high school, current education

Personal Resources (T1)-Self esteem- (Rosenberg, 1965) α=.82;

Optimism- The Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) α=.66;

Readiness for Independent Living- (Benbenishty & Zeira, 2008) α=.89;

Positive Perceptions of the Future- Based on “My Future” questionnaire (Zeira & Dekel, 2005) and Future Expectations Scale for Adolescents (McWhirter & McWhirter, 2008) α=.86; 12

Instruments-Independent variables (continued):

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Support Sources (T1-T3)-

• Mother & Father support- The Relationship with Father/Mother Questionnaire-RFMQ (Mayseless & Hai, 1998), α=.86-.90;

• Peer support- The Medical Outcomes Study-MOS (Sherbourne & Stewart, 1991) α=.94-.96;

Instruments-Independent variables (continued):

Current situation (T3):

Economic Difficulties- based on food security measurement α=.78 (Holben, 2002).

Employment- current employment; experiences of unemployment

Accommodation- accommodation stability, number of accommodations in the last year, Satisfaction of current accommodation

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ResultsThe mean self efficacy for higher education is 3.14 (S.D. 0.56).

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30.2

26.6

34.4

21.2

24.2

31.2

16.9

32.4

30.2

36.2

30.7

49.7

50.5

52.9

75.1

61.2

0102030405060708090100

pay tuition

look for financial assistance for tuition

support yourself while studying

register

choose field of study

find accomodation during your studies

find freinds during your studies

finish your studies successfully

You will be able to:

agree strongly agree

Correlations with self efficacy for higher education

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sigr/t/fvariableGroup

n.s.t=-1.01GenderBackground

n.s.r= 0.12Age

n.s.F =1.57Origin

n.s.t= -0.46Type of residential placementPlacement

n.s.t= -0.06Length of stay

n.s.t= 0.80-Placement stability

n.s.t= 0.96Learning disabilitiesEducation

n.s.t= 0.10High school learning achievements

n.s.t= -1.04Current level of education

.<01r= 0.23Self esteem Personal

Resources .<05r= 0.19Optimism

.<05r= 0.19Readiness for independent living

.<05r= 0.20Positive perceptions of the future

Support Sources

17*p<0.05 ** p< 0.01 ***p<0.001

T3

Four years

after leaving

care

T2

One year

after leaving

care

T1

Last year

in care

.12.14*19.Mother Support

.13.02.07Father Support

**29.**21.***26.Peer support

Correlations with self efficacy for higher education

Current situation

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sigr/tvariableGroup

.<001r= 0.36

Sum of Difficulties

Economic

Difficulties

n.s.t= 0.41Current Employment

Employment

.<01t= 3.04Unemployment in this year

.<05t= -2.53Accommodation Stability

Accommodation

n.s.t= -0.75Number of Accommodations

.<05r= 0.16Accommodation Satisfaction

Correlations with self efficacy for higher education

Hierarchical regression analysisModel 3Model 2Model 1

Variables βS.E.BBβS.E.BBβS.E.BB

.07.09.08.13.09.14.11.10.11Self Esteem

-.01.09-.01-.02.10-.02-.02.10-.02Optimism

.06.14.10.07.14.14.11.14.19Readiness for Independent Living

.02.15.04.04.15.06.05.16.09Positive Perceptions of the future

.12.06.09.12.06.09.19*.06.14Peer support- Last year in care

.14.05.10.22**.05.16Peer support- 4 years after care

-.25***.02-.07Economic difficulties

-.08.08-.09Unemployment

.06.08.07Accommodation Stability

-.01.03-.01Satisfaction from accommodation

(10,177)=4.92***(6,181)= 5.10***(5,182)=4.09**F

0.22**0.14**0.10**R²

0.07**0.04**-ΔR²

Discussion

Economic needs seem to be a barrier to perceived efficacy to enter higher education.

Need to develop:

1. Provide information and referrals to existing resources

2. Develop grants to help pay tuition but also to provide resources for accommodations and living expenses.

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Collaboration

care institutions

&

higher education institutions

Mentoring by

university students

Expose to higher

education

Special schemes and

programs

Universities & colleges

as welcoming and

supporting places

Discussion (continued):

Recommendations for research

Further research is necessary in order to find additional factors that contribute to self efficacy for higher education.

Longitudinal studies should examine the contribution of self efficacy to integration and success in higher education.

Evaluate emerging programs to support education while in care and among care leavers

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Why should society feel responsible only

for the education of children, and not for

the education of all adults of every age?Erich Fromm))

Email: tehilarefaeli@gmail.com