Weisman and Montgomery completed an overview of reviews to evaluate the status of research concerning functional family therapy (FFT). Despite reporting modest effects on delinquency, substance use, and secondary outcomes, the authors conclude that the research base supporting FFT is tenuous and that it "may not be advisable to continue…

Background: Mentoring has drawn substantial interest from policymakers, intervention theorists, and those interested in identifying promising and useful evidence-based approaches to interventions for criminal justice and child welfare outcomes (Grossman & Tierney, 1998; Jekliek et al., 2002). Mentoring is one of the most commonly-used…

Data from surveys in 1967 and 1972 indicate that: (1) broken homes are more highly associated with "family" offenses like truancy and running away, than with other types of juvenile misconduct; and (2) some types of misconduct are strongly influenced by the number of absent biological parents and the presence of a stepparent. (Author/MJL)

Research related to identification of delinquents, causes of delinquency, and effective intervention to stop delinquency is reviewed in this paper. In summary, the review indicates that adolescent problems appear to be concentrated among those disadvantaged in a variety of ways. Further, the reviewed literature indicates that biases in the justice…

The main themes of some prominent theories of youthful offenders are reviewed, and some of the far reaching reforms implied by these themes are outlined. The main goal is to consider how schools may respond to the problem, and attention is restricted to changes in schools that may help, even though more fundamental reforms in society would have…

Examined subsequent convictions of boys considered by parents and teachers to have been problematic and compared these boys with a matched group of nonproblematic children in order to identify precursors of criminal behavior. (Author/DB)

Two opposite views of the relations between moral cognition and moral action are described, their contrasting assumptions and implications are clarified, and the available empirical literature is reviewed. Research relating moral reasoning to real-life moral behaviors is summarized, with special attention given to design, measurement, and…

Identifies questions in child psychopathology and delinquency that can best be answered by using longitudinal data and discusses advantages and problems of longitudinal studies. Reviews methodological issues arising in longitudinal research on child psychopathology and proposes solutions to problems. Contrasts retrospective and prospective designs…

Tn the context of earlier work on the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study (which ran from 1935-1945 and involved 325 predelinquent boys and a matched set of controls), J. McCord's recent 30-year follow-up is seen as raising issues with respect to the controlled experiment as a basis for evaluation and study of psychotherapeutic effects. (Author/PHR)

There is a strong statistical correlation between delinquency activity level and the level of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use in adolescents. A strong association between drug use, drug trafficking, and youth gangs has also emerged. However, several important questions concerning the relationship of delinquency, gang membership, and AOD use…

Discusses problems with the use of stochastic (probabilistic) models for the analysis of juvenile offense data. Analyzes longitudinal data for White and non-White delinquents which show significant evidence of offense specialization and a random distribution of offenses if no specialization occurs. (Author/GC)

This paper was presented as part of a symposium attempting to document historical trends in the extent of disruptive behavior in schools and some contemporary responses to the problem. Fragmentary evidence suggests that disobedience and resistance to authority are not new, but incidents have become more serious. Still, few students are either…

This paper critiques Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin's "Delinquency in a Birth Cohort," (1972) which is the analysis of the recorded delinquent careers of a cohort of nearly 10,000 boys in Philadelphia, by outlining the consequences of an inadequate and cursory use of tabular analysis. (Author/RM)

Problems in conducting research with public offenders include lack of: a systematic body of knowledge, avenues of dissemination of information, a data base describing the situation, and communication between researchers and criminal justice staff members. Ethical concerns need to be dealt with. (Author)

Used two instruments to compare delinquent and nondelinquent teenaged women in terms of sex role androgyny, sex role attitudes, and heterosexual relationships. Based on the results, questions the construct validity of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personality Research Form (PRF ANDRO). (GC)