Interventions
Although the Study Group’s findings
concerning interventions for child delinquency
will be discussed more fully in
Treatment, Services, and Intervention
Programs for Child Delinquents (Burns
et al., 2003), the following brief
overview of the issues associated with
intervention focuses on the risk factors
just discussed. In general, the Study
Group found that the number of adequately
designed experimental interventions
is insufficient to guide policymakers
in their efforts to prevent child delinquency.
The lack of interventions targeting
antisocial behaviors in young
children is particularly conspicuous.
The Study Group believes focusing on
children’s early years is essential to
better understand the socialization failures
that lead to juvenile delinquency
and, eventually, criminal behavior in adulthood.
Individual
If the impulse control necessary to avoid trouble is learned largely during the preschool years, the best time to help those who have difficulty in acquiring this control would be during the “sensitive period” of early childhood. It is difficult to imagine that later interventions would have nearly as much effect. Instead of looking for the onset of aggression and antisocial behaviors after children enter school, it is more important to focus on the preschool years, when clearly much of the development of impulse control is taking place (e.g., Broidy, Nagin, and Tremblay, 1999; Tremblay et al., 1998).
Family
Several types of programs provide family-based interventions. For example, Olds and colleagues (1998) reported on nurses’ home visits to unmarried women living in households with low socioeconomic status during pregnancy to the end of the second year after birth. These visits subsequently had a positive effect on the 15-year-old children’s reports of arrests, convictions, violations of probation, consumption of alcohol, sexual activity, and running away from home. Earlier reports (Olds et al., 1997; Olds et al., 1986) had shown that this intervention also reduced the incidence of childhood injuries and child abuse and neglect.
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Violence and the Media Some studies have shown that antisocial behaviors, such as violence, can be learned by viewing violence in the media. For example, children exposed to high levels of television violence at age 8 were found to be more likely to behave aggressively at that age and subsequently, up to age 30 (Eron and Huesmann, 1987). In addition, children of parents who frequently watched violence on television and showed aggression were found to be more likely than other children to exhibit aggression and to prefer violent programs (Huesmann and Miller, 1994). |
Many family-based interventions that focus on issues such as spousal violence and divorce conflict disregard children completely or deal with them only in the abstract. Conversely, interventions for reducing aggression in young children do not always target family issues, such as domestic violence or parental psychopathology, that may contribute to the child’s behavior problems. Focused, family-based approaches, such as Parent Management Training (Wasserman and Miller, 1998), have helped reduce the risk of poor family management practices and physically abusive behavior, which can contribute to antisocial behaviors in children. Nevertheless, a lack of sensitivity to co-occurring risk factors has generally led to interventions that are too narrowly focused. As a result, they fail to address adequately the multiple sources of risk for children in family life.
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Bad Company Sometimes even the best intentions go astray. The fact that antisocial juveniles are often grouped together in intervention programs may, in fact, promote friendships and alliances among these juveniles and intensify delinquent behavior rather than reduce it (e.g., McCord, 1997; Dishion, McCord, and Poulin, 1999). For example, group discussions among antisocial peers may inadvertently reinforce antisocial attitudes and promote antisocial friendships that may continue outside group sessions. |
Peers
Interventions to reduce antisocial behaviors associated with peer influence should focus on reducing contact with deviant peers for juveniles predisposed to antisocial behaviors and on promoting the development of prosocial skills (e.g., skills for resolving peer conflicts) (Hawkins and Weis, 1985). Studies have shown that peer relations training (in combination with parent training) reduces children’s involvement with deviant peers during preadolescence, thus helping to protect them from subsequent involvement in delinquent activities.
School
Several types of school programs have shown promise as interventions for reducing aggressive behavior in the classroom. For example, evaluations of the Good Behavior Game showed that proactive behavior management can positively affect the long-term behavior of the most aggressive elementary school children (Murphy, Hutchinson, and Bailey, 1983; Kellam and Rebok, 1992; Kellam et al., 1994). The Seattle Social Development Project has also demonstrated effectiveness in reducing disruptive behavior in children (Hawkins et al., 1992; Hawkins, Von Cleve, and Catalano, 1991; Hawkins et al., 1999; O’Donnell et al., 1995). Numerous schools have also developed social competence curriculums to promote norms against aggressive, violent, and other antisocial behaviors (e.g., Greenberg, 1997). Other efforts include conflict resolution and violence prevention curriculums, bullying prevention programs, multicomponent classroom programs to improve academic achievement and reduce antisocial behaviors, afterschool recreation programs, and mentoring programs.
Community
Because most studies have not specifically focused on child delinquency, surprisingly little is known about community risk factors for child delinquency. Several community approaches for preventing and reducing juvenile crime have been developed in recent years (e.g., Brewer et al., 1995; National Crime Prevention Council, 1994). Most take a comprehensive approach to addressing behavior across several risk domains, but their effect on child delinquency remains to be demonstrated. Multicomponent instruction programs have been developed in several big cities, and these programs will be discussed in Treatment, Services, and Intervention Programs for Child Delinquents (Burns et al., 2003).
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