Poster #176 - Risk Factors, Promotive Factors, and Gainful Activity in a Sample of Juvenile Offenders

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Juvenile offenders are a vulnerable population who often are overlooked in the resilience literature. Understanding positive youth adjustment is critical to the process of helping restructure the justice system and help youth out of the cycle of incarceration. The present study identified risk and promotive factors across several domains (individual, community, and family) at the initial baseline interview to determine which, if any, factors were associated with gainful activity in the community up to two years after baseline data were collected.
The study sample was comprised of 1,208 youth (M age at baseline = 16, SD = 1.14) who participated in the extensive Pathways to Desistance study. For this study, control variables were race, geographic location, age at first arrest, socioeconomic status, and sex. Risk variables were exposure to violence, mother and father hostility, and aggressive offending. Promotive variables examined were motivation to succeed, parental monitoring, maternal and paternal warmth, and if the youth lived with their biological father. Previous analyses did not determine any significant interactions between sex and parental monitoring or living with the biological father, so these interactions were not considered for this sample (reference removed for review). The outcome variable, gainful activity, was chosen because it previously was considered as a factor of future success in juvenile justice youth (Jäggi, 2016) and consolidates employment and school attendance into one variable. Youth were included in the analysis if they had time in the community during the 24-month follow-up period and if they had participated in at least one of the follow-up interviews. Hierarchical regression was chosen because it does not constrain the variance to an arbitrary, dichotomous outcome, potentially masking some valuable information about youth who may be on the cusp of resilient behavior. Missing values in the dataset were evaluated using Little’s MCAR test, p < .001. Since data are not missing completely at random, multiple imputation (MI) was recommended to obtain robust, unbiased estimates of the data. Seven imputed datasets were created since there was 6.67% missing data as recommended by Bodner (2008).
Hierarchical regression results indicated that among the risk factors, greater violence exposure predicted less gainful activity in the community. However, the promotive factors motivation to succeed, parental monitoring, and living with the biological father all predicted more gainful activity in the 24-months following the baseline interview (see Table 1).
Justice system involvement can cause consequences that may persist throughout the lifespan (Kim, Park, & Kim, 2016; Moilananen, Shaw, & Maxwell, 2010). The findings indicate the importance of individual, family, and community processes in promoting resilience in a juvenile justice population. Expanding resources in these areas may help with the transition from incarcerated youth to successful member of society.

Authors

• Kristina McGuire, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Presenting Author

• Wendy Kliewer, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Geri Lotze, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patrick Lowery, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author