At the age of 18 in Israel, the country ceases its responsibility towards children who grew up in care facilities. From that stage on they are responsible for themselves in all life domains, E.g.: accommodation, work, etc. Therefore, acquiring higher or vocational education is seen as a difficult and sometimes impossible task for this population. Many studies focus on a better understanding of the resources that help care leavers acquire postsecondary education. The suggested presentation focuses on the predictors of self-efficacy among care leavers regarding integration in postsecondary education and regarding dealing with tasks related to integration in education. The current research is part of a quantitative longitudinal research. In the first stage, 287 young people in their 12th school year, who live in care facilities, answered a questionnaire. In the second stage, 231out of the participants were interviewed by phone a year after leaving the care facilities. In the third stage, 4 years after leaving care, 220 of the first cohort answered a questionnaire by phone. In the current presentation, we used a sample of 191 of participants who reported that they intend to continue their studies. Main findings suggest that different layers in the life of care leavers predict their self-efficacy regarding education. Support from parents did not correlate with self-efficacy in all 3 stages. Support from peers had weak but significant correlation with self-efficacy in the 3 stages. The regression equation reveals that personal resources and current functioning are the main predictors of self-efficacy. Within personal resources, the appreciation of readiness to leave care reported in the first stage had the greatest contribution in predicting self-efficacy. Of the variables reflecting current functioning, economic difficulties mainly predict the low self- efficacy regarding education. The implication for practice suggest the importance of programs preparing youth for leaving care, in order to enhance their sense of readiness when the time arrives. Moreover, after leaving care economic support is necessary to help the youth consider other options beyond basic daily survival, such as acquiring education.

1. 1
Tehila Refaeli
Phd student, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
tehilarefaeli@gmail.com
The study was funded by the ISF- Israel Science Foundation

2. Care leavers -Overview
Many 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

3. 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)
-
3

4. 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)
4
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)

5. 5

6. 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).

6

7. 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
7

8. Method
8
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

9. 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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10. 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
 10

11. Instruments
Dependent 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
11

12. Instruments-
Independent variables
Background (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

13. Instruments-
Independent variables (continued):
13
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;

14. 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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15. Results
The mean self efficacy for higher education is 3.14 (S.D. 0.56).
15
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

16. Correlations with self efficacy for higher education
16
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 esteemPersonal
Resources
.<05r= 0.19Optimism
.<05r= 0.19Readiness for independent living
.<05r= 0.20Positive perceptions of the future

17. 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
.13.02.07
Father Support
**29.**21.***26.
Peer support
Correlations with self efficacy for higher education

18. Current situation
18
sigr/tvariable
Group
.<001r= 0.36
Sum of Difficulties
Economic
Difficulties
n.s.t= 0.41
Current Employment
Employment
.<01t= 3.04Unemployment in this year
.<05t= -2.53
Accommodation Stability
Accommodation
n.s.t= -0.75
Number of Accommodations
.<05r= 0.16Accommodation Satisfaction
Correlations with self efficacy for higher education

19. Hierarchical regression analysis
Model 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

20. 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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21. 21
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):

22. 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
22

23. 23
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