Preventing Health Risky Behaviors for Adolescent Girls in Juvenile Justice

OSLC Relationship Study 1

Oregon Social Learning Center

Principal Investigator: Patricia Chamberlain
Co-Investigator: Leslie Leve, John B. Reid
Project Coordinator: Claudia Van Dyke
Year Completed: 2002
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health

An intervention with 13- to 17-year-old females with histories of chronic criminal behavior and mental health problems referred from the juvenile justice system.

The Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) is conducting an intervention study with 130 13- to 17-year-old females with histories of chronic criminal behavior and mental health problems who are referred from the juvenile justice system. This study is designed to test the efficacy of a Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) intervention compared to "community treatment as usual" and to investigate how the relationships that girls have with significant others (e.g., parents, mentors, friends, boyfriends) affect their proximal and long-term adjustment in diverse areas of functioning. An additional aim is to examine the relationship between key components of treatment and outcomes.

Participants are randomly assigned to participate in MTFC or in "usual" community treatment which is most often placement to a Group Care home or residential facility. In MTFC girls are matched with and placed in community families who are trained and supervised to provide girls with close supervision, adult mentoring, and consistent limits. Girls in MTFC receive individual and family therapy, skill training and academic support. Girls in the control condition are most often placed in aggregate care settings with from 6-16 other youths. Typically they participate in group, family and individual therapy. Study girls are assessed at frequent intervals throughout their placement periods and in follow-up. The study aims to examine the characteristics and contexts of gender appropriate treatments that help girls reduce criminal activity, drug use, and health-risking sexual behavior and improve their supportive and productive relationships and level of functioning in the community.