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The Prevention Researcher

Behavioral research for professionals working with adolescents and at-risk youth.

A journal from Integrated Research Services, Inc.

The Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency: A Review of the Research

By Edward P. Mulvey, Michael W. Arthur, & N. Dickon Reppucci
The Prevention Researcher,
Volume 4, Number 2, 1997, Pages 1-4


Feature Article:
Juvenile delinquency is a complex problem that exacts a substantial and continuing toll on our society. After being stable for more than 10 years, juvenile violent crime rates soared between 1988 & 1994. If this trend continues they will double by the year 2010. Social indicators suggest that recent declines in the proportion of teenagers in the population may soon reverse as children of the "baby boomers" come of age. Emerging trends in family demographics also reveal that more children than ever are growing up homeless, in poverty, and in single parent homes, while funding for social programs is decreasing.

While the exact mechanisms and Iikely strength of the relationships between these conditions and juvenile crime remain ambiguous, these trends suggest that the press to find adequate intervention methods for juvenile delinquents will only increase. Primary and secondary prevention of delinquency rest on the principle of identifying individuals and environments at risk for delinquent activity before the behavior has occurred and then either removing risk factors or strengthening resistance to the risk factors. The impact of this approach depends upon the process of identifying risk factors and the choice of when and where to direct the intervention. When in the life course of what targeted individuals is what intervention most likely to be successful?

Family-Based Preventive Interventions


The family is one of the most logical starting places for prevention efforts. Because of the weight of recent empirical evidence relating family functioning to various forms of adolescent antisocial behavior, and alarm at the rapidly changing demographics of U.S. families, early family intervention has received wide endorsement as a locus for preventive intervention.

Early family interventions, however, may be perceived as an invasion of privacy. They may also stigmatize or inappropriately label youth and families as problems, and may have unanticipated negative long-term effects. These barriers to primary prevention may prohibit well-intentioned interventions from being adequately implemented. To provide both widely acceptable services and targeted programs for those who need it most, preventive efforts have generally been of two types: (a) those that focus on training parents in family management techniques, and (b) those that provide an array of supportive services such as child care and/or medical and social services to socially disadvantaged families.

Parent Training
Parent training interventions developed during the 1960's when behavioral-oriented child therapists recognized the importance of involving parents in child behavior management in the home. Unfortunately, although several studies have supported the efficacy of parent training for reducing problem behaviors of conduct disordered youth, scant evidence exists concerning its effectiveness as a primary prevention strategy. Because parent training is typically a component of community based or school-based interventions, it is impossible to separate its effects from the other aspects of the interventions. One interesting finding, however, was that siblings of behavior-disordered youths were less likely to exhibit problem behaviors and delinquency following intervention than siblings of comparison youth.
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