TY - JOUR
T1 - Female offenders referred for community-based mental health service as compared to other service-referred youth
T2 - Correlates of conviction
AU - Walrath, Christine
AU - Ybarra, Michele
AU - Holden, E. Wayne
AU - Manteuffel, Brigitte
AU - Santiago, Rolando
AU - Leaf, Philip
N1 - Funding Information:
The current study population is a subsample of youth receiving system-of-care services through the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program (funded by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services). Over 50,000 children have entered the program since 1993. Multiple components of the congressionally mandated national evaluation include a cross-sectional descriptive study and a longitudinal outcomes study. Data were collected between 1993 and 1998 from 28 communities in 22 system-of-care grant communities. Study enrollment and data-collection protocols were established nationally. Due to the diversity of needs being met and the uniqueness of each system-of-care, aspects of the evaluation were customized in some grant communities to meet site-specific requirements. A description of the national evaluation protocol and data-collection procedures has been given elsewhere ( Center for Mental Health Services [CMHS], 1998, 1997, 1999a ; Holden, Friedman, & Santiago, 2001 ).
Funding Information:
The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program of the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (#280-94-0012 and #280-99-8023) and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH19545) supported this research. This research was made possible by the hard work of the local sites, funded across the country, which contributed to the national data set.
PY - 2003/2
Y1 - 2003/2
N2 - Data from a large federally supported national evaluation of system-of-care community mental health services were analysed to identify correlates of conviction. Female adolescents with a reported history of criminal conviction (n = 88) were compared to three other service-referred youth groups: females without conviction histories (n = 664), males with conviction histories (n = 199), and males without conviction histories (n = 1230) for possible differences in number and type of family, individual, and school-related life challenges. Multinomial regression analyses were first used to compare the quantity of child and family correlates in each conviction group, and then to test specific correlates in the individual, family, and school domains. The conditional odds of reporting a high vs. low number of child correlates was found to be significantly greater for females with a history of conviction compared to all other groups, over and above the number of family risk factors. Further, service-referred females with a conviction history, when compared to other service-referred youth groups, were much more likely to report having experienced a living instability (e.g. history of running away, multiple living arrangements) and personal adverse life events (e.g. history of drug and alcohol use, sexual abuse). Implications for community-based interventions and treatment are discussed.
AB - Data from a large federally supported national evaluation of system-of-care community mental health services were analysed to identify correlates of conviction. Female adolescents with a reported history of criminal conviction (n = 88) were compared to three other service-referred youth groups: females without conviction histories (n = 664), males with conviction histories (n = 199), and males without conviction histories (n = 1230) for possible differences in number and type of family, individual, and school-related life challenges. Multinomial regression analyses were first used to compare the quantity of child and family correlates in each conviction group, and then to test specific correlates in the individual, family, and school domains. The conditional odds of reporting a high vs. low number of child correlates was found to be significantly greater for females with a history of conviction compared to all other groups, over and above the number of family risk factors. Further, service-referred females with a conviction history, when compared to other service-referred youth groups, were much more likely to report having experienced a living instability (e.g. history of running away, multiple living arrangements) and personal adverse life events (e.g. history of drug and alcohol use, sexual abuse). Implications for community-based interventions and treatment are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0140-1971(02)00113-6
DO - 10.1016/S0140-1971(02)00113-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 12550821
AN - SCOPUS:0037322080
SN - 0140-1971
VL - 26
SP - 45
EP - 61
JO - Journal of Adolescence
JF - Journal of Adolescence
IS - 1
ER -