Investigating the Moderating Effect of Gender on Treatment Factor Co-Morbidity among Adolescent Offenders: A Gender-Informed Latent Profile Analysis

• In Event: Criminogenic Needs, Strengths, and Treatment Factors as Considerations for Case Management with Juvenile Offender Populations

Abstract

Adolescent female offender studies have rarely examined the extent to which gender-responsive correctional treatment factors (e.g., abuse, internalizing mental health problems, low self-esteem) may co-occur alongside gender-neutral treatment factors (e.g., criminal attitudes, criminal friends). Similarly, few studies have explicitly explored potential gender differences in treatment factor co-morbidity within adolescent offender samples. Thus, this study applies latent profile analysis to a sample of 323 adolescent Canadian offenders to: (1) identify if unique profiles (clusters) of youth would emerge delineated by different combinations of co-morbid treatment factors; and (2) to assess if the resultant latent profiles would be moderated by gender. Results are discussed within the context of Hyde’s (2005) gender similarities/difference hypotheses. Implications for gender informed adolescent offender treatment are discussed.

Authors

• Shelley Brown, Carleton University

• Leigh Greiner, British Columbia Corrections

• Tracey Skilling, University of Toronto