Title page for ETD etd-04072007-122518

Type of Document

Dissertation

Author

Horton, Kimberly Gray

Author's Email Address

kimberlygrayhorton@gmail.com

URN

etd-04072007-122518

Title

The Effects of a Short-term Intervention for Adolescents in Juvenile Justice and Their Families

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Family and Child Sciences, Department of

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Marsha Rehm	Committee Chair
Gary Peterson	Committee Member
Kay Pasley	Committee Member
Penny Ralston	Committee Member

Keywords

Juvenile Justice
Families
Adolescents
Intervention

Date of Defense

2007-02-28

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of a short-term intervention for youth and their families currently involved or at-risk for involvement in the juvenile justice system. The intervention was based on the PAC Success Family Literacy Initiative which is a 6-week, 12-session program. The final sample consisted of 76 participants (43 parents/caregivers and 33 youth) from 7 Florida sites. The outcomes of interest were: (a) parental/caregiver perceptions of their children’s behavior, (b) parental/caregiver perceptions of children, (c) youth perceptions of self, (d) youth perceptions of parents/caregivers, and (e) recidivism rates. A second goal of the study was to evaluate the program in terms of implications for future short-term programmatic interventions.

Following PAC Success, there were significant changes reported in parental/caregiver perceptions regarding their children’s behaviors and also their perceptions of children. Youth did not show significant changes in negative self attributes or in perceptions of negative parental/caregiver attributes. It is interesting to note that the parents were impacted more than the youth. Full completion and partial completion of the program was also considered. In regard to recidivism, whether the participants of the program had been involved or had contact with the system in 1 and/or 4 years following program participation, differences between full completers and partial completers were not significant.

A primary contribution of this work is in the area of practice and evaluation.

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