Social Work Commons^™

Police Cartoon Series: Between Learning And Awareness Of Deviance And Crime (Comparative Study), Khawlah Al-Tkhayneh, Arwa Alchamali, Marwa Nazar

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

This study aimed at detecting the impact of watching police cartoon series introduced by different communication channels, such as TV, YouTube, etc. on children's behaviour by conducting a comparative study between two well-known police cartoon series in order to identify which one of them behaved based on promoting children's awareness about delinquency and crime and which one used the educational method about crime and delinquency (intentionally and unintentionally) as well as identifying the most prominent differences between the methods of introducing the cartoon series in each series. In order to achieve the study objectives, the researchers used the comparative approach …

Risks For African American Male Youth Involved In The Juvenile Justice System, Cassandra Showers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this action research study was to gain an understanding of the factors and risks that contribute to juvenile delinquency of African American male youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Ecological systems theory was used to examine strategies used by social workers with this population and the effectiveness of those interventions. Individual interviews with 5 social workers recruited using nonprobability sampling were conducted. The interviews were audio-recorded, then manually transcribed. Responses were uploaded into the NVivo software system for coding. The software system was used to identify themes and patterns to substantiate the research question. The study …

Racial And Ethnic Comparison Of Ecological Risk Factors And Youth Outcomes: A Test Of The Desensitization Hypothesis, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Minority youth, because of structural, ecological, and societal inequalities, are at heightened risk of reporting depression and experiencing negative sanctions associated with delinquency. Sociological theories suggest that greater exposure to ecological risk factors at the peer, family, school and community levels are associated with elevated rates of youth depression and delinquency. Desensitization theory posits that repeated exposures to ongoing stressors result in a numbing of psychological and behavioral responses. Thus, it remains unclear whether racial/ethnic differences exist with regards to how contextual stressors correlate with depression and delinquency. Using a sample of 616 Black, 687 Latinx, and 1,318 White youth, …

Examining The Impact Of Victimization On Girls’ Delinquency: A Study Of Direct And Indirect Effects, Johanna Peterson, Dana Dehart, Emily Wright

Faculty and Staff Publications

Previous research has acknowledged that there is a relationship between victimization and later delinquency, but the specific attributes of this relationship are unclear because measures of both direct and indirect victimization are rarely explored in a single study. We included both indirect and direct victimization to examine which form of victimization was a stronger predictor of substance use, fighting, running away, and sex work among girls committed to a juvenile justice facility. Findings indicated that direct victimization was typically a more salient predictor of delinquency than indirect forms of victimization. Further, running away and sex work appear to be unique …

Examining The Impact Of Victimization On Girls’ Delinquency: A Study Of Direct And Indirect Effects, Johanna Peterson, Dana D. Dehart, Emily Wright

Faculty and Staff Publications

Previous research has acknowledged that there is a relationship between victimization and later delinquency, but the specific attributes of this relationship are unclear because measures of both direct and indirect victimization are rarely explored in a single study. We included both indirect and direct victimization to examine which form of victimization was a stronger predictor of substance use, fighting, running away, and sex work among girls committed to a juvenile justice facility. Findings indicated that direct victimization was typically a more salient predictor of delinquency than indirect forms of victimization. Further, running away and sex work appear to be unique …

Practitioners' Views On Service Needs For Justice Involved Youth, Juan C. Llamas, Robin L. Chandler

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess practitioners’ views of service needs for juveniles involved with the justice system. In the United States, every year there are thousands of youth committed to detention institutions for delinquent acts. As a result, children as young as nine years of age up until adulthood have a difficult time integrating back into the community. In many instances, youth who have been involved with the justice system have a greater likelihood of recidivism due to their inability to adapt to their environment. Further, when youth enter the system, many times they are not receiving …

Testing Three Pathways To Substance Use And Delinquency Among Low-Income African American Adolescents, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Objective Mounting literature suggests that parental monitoring, risky peer norms, and future orientation correlate with illicit drug use and delinquency. However, few studies have investigated these constructs simultaneously in a single statistical model with low income African American youth. This study examined parental monitoring, peer norms and future orientation as primary pathways to drug use and delinquent behaviors in a large sample of African American urban adolescents. Methods A path model tested direct paths from peer norms, parental monitoring, and future orientation to drug use and delinquency outcomes after adjusting for potential confounders such as age, socioeconomic, and sexual orientation …

Social Relationships In Young Offenders: Relevance To Peers, Poverty, And Psychological Adjustment, Victoria Sabo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The increasing influence of peers in adolescence is related to a developing array of skills, aspirations, attitudes, and behaviours. The nature and magnitude of this influence and the potential association of certain youth with deviant peers is among the most prominent risk factors in predicting youth crime. This becomes of greater concern for economically disadvantaged youth, whose neighbourhoods harbour greater susceptibility to negative peer influence. With social affiliations at the forefront of youth development and criminality, research efforts need to further characterize the nature, constitution, and influence of peers on adolescent offending. Two hundred and eighty-one Canadian youth were sampled …

The Social Exclusion Of Dually-Involved Youth: Toward A Sense Of Belonging, Joann S. Lee, Jessie Patton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

We use an institutional life course perspective to explore the social exclusion of dually-involved youth. We begin by defining the concept of social exclusion and present one mechanism of social exclusion, the set of institutions operating in the lives of dually-involved youth. We use the social exclusion framework to extend the implications of studies of dually-involved youth, and propose three stages of social-exclusion for dually-involved youth. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of broad investments in families, schools, and communities to ensure that dually-involved youth develop a sense of belonging and the capabilities necessary to live meaningful lives.

Involvement In The Juvenile Justice System For African American Adolescents: Examining Associations With Behavioral Health Problems, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

While researchers have found that African American youth experience higher levels of juvenile justice involvement at every system level (arrest, sentencing, and incarceration) relative to their other ethnic counterparts, few studies have explored how juvenile justice involvement and number of contacts might be correlated with this broad range of problems. A convenience sample of 638 African American adolescents living in predominantly low-income, urban communities participated in a survey related to juvenile justice involvement. Major findings using logistic regression models indicated that adolescents who reported juvenile justice system involvement versus no involvement were 2.3 times as likely to report mental health …

Predictors Of Gang Affiliation Among Adolescents: Implications For Social Work Students, Caroline G. Mcloughlin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what current Master of Social Worker Students in their advanced year know about adolescent gang affiliation, including statistics, predictive factors, and possible interventions. Adolescent gang involvement is a very serious issue that historically has had very problematic effects on society, as well as serious and troublesome effects on the life course of the individual. Despite the knowledge that has been gained in recent years regarding predictive factors of adolescent gang involvement, many intervention programs designed to address this issue are still rarely effective. Despite the fact that there are conflicting findings in …

Social Workers Perspectives Of The Protective And Risk Factors That Affect Youth In The Juvenile Justice System And Child Welfare System, Guadalupe Citlalli Torres, Victoria Vanesa Mariscal

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Youth who have experienced maltreatment and the dysfunction of multiple placements are at risk of engaging in delinquent behaviors. Studies from various professionals found specific risk and protective factors that affect youth from being involved in the juvenile justice system. The current study adds significantly literature by identifying the risk and protective factors that affect foster youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice system based on social workers perspectives. The results indicate almost 93% of the participants agreed that multiple placements, 74% agreed that physical abuse, 61% agreed that group homes, and 67% agreed that sexual abuse serve as …

Predictors Of Gang Affiliation Among Adolescents: Implications For Social Work Students, Caroline George Mcloughlin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what current Master of Social Worker Students in their advanced year know about adolescent gang affiliation, including statistics, predictive factors, and possible interventions. Adolescent gang involvement is a very serious issue that historically has had very problematic effects on society, as well as serious and troublesome effects on the life course of the individual. Despite the knowledge that has been gained in recent years regarding predictive factors of adolescent gang involvement, many intervention programs designed to address this issue are still rarely effective. Despite the fact that there are conflicting findings in …

Relationships Between Delinquency And Substance Use Among Adolescents Emancipating From Foster Care, Svetlana Shpiegel, Jamey J. Lister, Richard Isralowitz

Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Adolescents emancipating from foster care exhibit high rates of both delinquency and substance use, although it is less clear how these behaviors relate to one another. We aimed to examine the reciprocal relationships between these risk behaviors while accounting for relevant child welfare factors. We use data from the Multi-Site Evaluation of Foster Youth Programs to explore longitudinal associations between delinquent behaviors and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) among youths ages 17 and 18 (N = 429). Delinquency at age 17 was a positive predictor of substance use at age 18, after controlling for baseline use of substances. …

From Placement To Prison Revisited: Do Mental Health Services Disrupt The Delinquency Pipeline Among Latino, African American And Caucasian Youth In The Child Welfare System?, Antonio R. Garcia, Johanna K.P. Greeson, Minseop Kim, Allison E. Thompson, Christina Denard

Johanna K.P. Greeson, PhD, MSS, MLSP

Racial and ethnic disparities in delinquency among child welfare-involved youth are well documented. However, less is known about the mechanisms through which these disparities occur. This study explores the extent to which sets of variables predict the occurrence of juvenile delinquency and whether race/ethnicity moderates the strength of the relationships between (1) social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) problems and delinquency and (2) mental health service use and delinquency. We used a nationally representative sample of 727 African American, Caucasian, and Latino youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who were referred to the child welfare system. Controlling for age, …

Delinquency And Crime Prevention: Overview Of Research Comparing Treatment Foster Care And Group Care, Gershon K. Osei, Kevin M. Gorey, Debra M. Hernandez Jozefowicz

Social Work Publications

Background: Evidence of treatment foster care (TFC) and group care’s (GC) potential to prevent delinquency and crime has been developing.

Objectives: We clarified the state of comparative knowledge with a historical overview. Then we explored the hypothesis that smaller, probably better resourced group homes with smaller staff/resident ratios have greater impacts than larger homes with a meta-analytic update.

Methods: Research literatures were searched to 2015. Five systematic reviews were selected that included seven independent studies that compared delinquency or crime outcomes among youths ages 10–18. A similar search augmented by author and bibliographic searches identified six additional studies with an …

Community Violence Exposure And Adolescent Delinquency: Examining A Spectrum Of Promotive Factors, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

This study examined whether promotive factors (future expectations, family warmth, school attachment, and neighborhood cohesion) moderated relationships between community violence exposure and youth delinquency. Analyses were conducted using N = 2,980 sixth to eighth graders (Mage = 12.48; 41.1% males) from a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample. After controlling for demographic factors, delinquency was positively associated with community violence exposure and inversely associated with each of the promotive factors. When interaction effects between all promotive factors and community violence exposure were examined simultaneously, only future expectations moderated the relationship between community violence exposure and delinquency. Specifically, community violence exposure …

Re-Arrest Among Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth: An Examination Of The Static And Dynamic Risk Factors, Jun Sung Hong, Joseph P. Ryan, Yu-Ling Chiu, Bushra Sabri

Social Work Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the static and dynamic risk factors for re-arrest among detained youth by examining gender, race/ethnicity, age, special education and mental health variables (i.e., anger/irritability, depression/anxiety, somatic complaints, suicide ideation, thought disturbances, and traumatic experiences). The demographic profiles of detained youth with one admit were also compared with those with multiple admits to the juvenile detention center. With regards to static risk factors, older, white, and special education were significantly at risk of re-arrest. Concerning dynamic risk factors, only anger/irritability predicted re-arrest. Practice implications are also discussed.

Risk And Protective Factors Of Delinquency: Perspectives From Professionals Working With Youth, James Reilly

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

This study examines the risk factors that increase an adolescent’s chance of engaging in delinquency and the protective factors that reduce the risk of delinquency. The risk and protective factors were examined through the ecological paradigm, which included the individual, family/peers, and neighborhood/community domains. This study used a qualitative method to examine the risk and protective factors through the perspective of professionals working in the juvenile justice system. Data was collected from a sample of professionals working at all levels of the juvenile justice system (N=6, average length of experience in working with youth=21 years), which included juvenile judges, assistant …

Efficacy Of The Jesness Inventory-Revised Conduct Disorder And Oppositional Defiant Disorder Scales, Terry B. Pinsoneault, Frank R. Ezzo

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

The authors investigated the Conduct Disorder (JR-CD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (JR-ODD) scales developed for the Jesness Inventory-Revised. Participants included 340 youth aged 12 to 18 seen at a juvenile court diagnostic clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. The authors also investigated the previously existing Social Maladjustment (JR-SM) and Asocial Index (JR-ASO) scales. Participants were independently diagnosed as having CD, ODD, Disruptive Behavior Disorder NOS (a milder behavioral disorder), or no diagnosable behavioral disorder. Mean scores varied across the groups in the expected directions for all four scales. JR-CD and JR-ODD were better able to differentiate between their target groups and the …

Disparate Juvenile Court Outcomes For Disabled Delinquent Youth: A Social Work Call To Action, Christopher A. Mallett

Social Work Faculty Publications

Current service delivery for at-risk youth is through four separate systems: special education; mental health and substance abuse; juvenile justice; and child welfare. Many youth (and their families) are involved with more than one of these systems, making early disability identification and subsequent systems coordination paramount in leading to more successful juvenile court outcomes. This coordination is an important and prioritized public policy concern because a majority of youth (disproportionately minority) within juvenile justice populations has been identified with mental health disorders, special education disabilities, or maltreatment histories. This study of a unique sample of probation-supervised delinquent youths ( n …

A Study Of Elementary School Children At Risk For Truancy: Exploring Gender Differences, Services Offered, And Other Factors Related To Truancy, Alice Joseph

LSU Master's Theses

This cross sectional, exploratory study examined the characteristics of elementary school children at risk for truancy. Furthermore, the study explored if there were any significant gender differences in the number of children referred to the TASC program. The current study also sought to answer if there were any gender differences in common problem areas reported to have an impact on truancy. Finally, any differences between children identified as low risk and high risk were also investigated. This study used secondary data analysis. Elementary school children (N = 23,459), grades Kindergarten through 4th grade who participated in the TASC program of …

Analysis Of The Association Between Socio-Demographic Variables, Juvenile Offending, And Formal Vs. Informal Juvenile Justice System Handling In A Non-Urban Sample, Stephen W. Phillippi, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

PURPOSE: This study compares and contrasts first-time juvenile offenders enrolled in a community-based intervention program whose cases were processed either informally or formally, and examines empirically- and conceptually-relevant contributors to re-offending. METHODS: This is a longitudinal, secondary analysis of 1072 male and female offenders. The study includes descriptive univariate analyses; chi-square bivariate analyses of each independent variable with the dependent variables (level of processing and recidivism at both one and three years); and binary logistic regression analyses to identify significant predictors of the dependent variables. Independent variables include age, gender, race, family structure, marital status of biological parents, family income, …