Examining the psychological well-being of adults who grew up in the institutional care and who lived with their parents by demographic factors and learned resourcefulness

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychological well-being and learned resourcefulness of adults who grew up in the institutional care and who lived with their parents, to determine the predictors of the variables and the differences between two groups. The sample of the study included a total number of 354 people, 47 females (34.8%) and 88 males (65.2%) grew up in care and 99 females (45.2%) and 120 males (54.8%) grew up with their parents. The comparisons among groups were carried out with 135 participants in the care group and 135 participants matched with them by their age, gender and educational level from the group with adults grew up with their parents. Research data were collected by Scales of Psychological Well-Being and Rosenbaum's Learned Resourcefulness Scale. Multivariate analyses were conducted in order to determine the differences between groups and the results indicated that participants grew up with their parents had significantly higher levels of psychological well-being and learned resourcefulness while no significant differences were seen between female and male participants. The relationships between psychological well-being, learned resourcefulness, demographic characteristics and the variables related to the institutional experience of the care group were examined by correlation analysis. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for groups to define the predictors of psychological well-being. Care group's psychological well-being was found to be significantly predicted by age, the variables related to the institutional experience and learned resourcefulness. For the group lived with their parents, age and learned resourcefulness was found significant to predict the group's psychological well-being. The results of the study were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions to improve the psychological well-being of the people grew up in care were given, considering the importance, limitations and the findings of the study.