The Impact of Parenting Factors and Treatment Engagement on Juvenile Justice System Involvement

• In Event: Learning Effective Approaches to Intervention: Examining the Impact of Behavioral Health Interventions on Adolescent Conduct Problems

Abstract

Prior research indicates that involvement in the juvenile justice system can have lifelong impacts on youth development and functioning across a wide range of domains, including educational attainment and employment, financial stability, interpersonal relationships, and mental and physical health. Therefore, it is essential that research examining predictors of this system involvement be prioritized in order to promote positive developmental trajectories across the lifespan for at-risk youth. Of the youth who were recruited and screened for enrollment in this study, 35% reported committing at least one crime. In addition, 46% of these youth reported being picked up by police. Of these, 21% reported being charged with a crime, 8% reported being convicted of a crime, 12% reported spending at least one night in detention or jail, and 10% reported having been put on probation or parole at least once. These relatively high rates of system involvement are perhaps not surprising given the high-risk status of these study participants; however, this paper highlights parenting factors that may be predictive of juvenile justice system involvement (e.g., parental monitoring, containment, practices, systems involvement) and the role of treatment engagement in mitigating such risk factors.

Authors

• Jacqueline Horan Fisher, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

• Aaron T. Hogue, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

• Sarah Mary Dauber, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse