Familial functioning as a support system for adolescents' postdetention success.
Youths transitioning out of detention are particularly in need of support systems that can divert them from recidivism. This article examines the relationship between incarcerated youths' sense of their families' functioning and their perceived likelihood for postdetention success. Despite the control of background variables, results reveal that delinquents who indicated stronger familial functioning also reported a greater likelihood of future success. Although interventions that focus on improving the supportive capacity of families have shown great promise, treatment drop-out rates remain high. To explore incarcerated youths' view of family focused interventions, respondents rated the potential utility of family and nonfamily focused intervention options. A majority of respondents reported that family focused interventions would be helpful. A group of respondents, overrepresented by adolescents with low family functioning, reported that this type of intervention would not be helpful. These results are discussed in terms of their impact on offering family focused interventions for juveniles.
Brown
Randall
R
University of Nevada, Reno, 2345 Red Rock, Las Vegas, Nevada 89146, USA. brownr@unce.unr.edu
Killian
Eric
E
Evans
William P
WP
D000293:Adolescent; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors