This bulletin summarizes the results of a training and technology transfer program focussing on strengthening families for the prevention of delinquency. A national search was conducted for representative family strengthening programs, and through a process that involved national conferences, regional training sessions, and technical assistance,…

The document describes the Family Treatment Unit, a demonstration program to provide a variety of family treatment services to status offenders (11 to 17 years old) and their families. The goals of the program are: (1) to provide family services to families of status offenders; (2) to maintain status offenders in their natural homes by…

Traditional mental health approaches for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders often fail to yield successful results. However, one method, Multisystemic Therapy (MST), which represents a departure from traditional treatment strategies, is described. MST was designed to provide communities with affordable and effective remedies for…

Reviews research relevant to family-based adolescent health promotion, focusing on efforts to prevent problems and encourage healthy development. Discusses family processes that appear central to healthy adolescent functioning, including attachment, reducing disharmony, and encouraging responsibility. Describes selected family interventions,…

The Adolescent Diversion Project, an alternative to court processing for juvenile offenders, employs intervention strategies of behavioral contracting and advocacy. Youth (N=73) were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) the control group receiving usual court treatment; (2) the family condition involving a trained undergraduate volunteer who…

Truancy is a major problem in the United States that can have negative effects on the futures of young people. Truancy may lead to dropping out of school; may be a precursor to delinquent and criminal activity; and places students at higher risk of being drawn into behaviors involving drugs, alcohol, or violence. Furthermore, truancy has high…

The Syracuse University Family Development Research Program (FDRP), which ran from 1969 to 1975, provided support and day care for five years to very deprived families with newborn children. Participants, recruited in the third trimester of pregnancy, were low-education families with an annual income of less than $5,000, 85 percent of which were…