Impact of Brief Intervention Services on Drug-Using Truant Youths' Self-Reported Delinquency and Arrest Charges: A Longitudinal Study.
The issue of delinquency among truant youth is insufficiently documented in the literature. There is a need to elucidate this issue, and assess the efficacy of interventions to reduce this problem behavior. The present, NIDA-funded study addressed this gap by examining the impact of a Brief Intervention (BI), originally designed to address youth substance use, on their delinquent behavior over an 18-month follow-up period (for self-reported delinquency) and a 24-month follow-up period (for official record delinquency). A number of significant BI intervention effects with sizable effect sizes were found, as well as a number of marginally significant BI effects. In particular, significant reductions in arrest charges at 24-month follow-up for youth receiving BI services compared to controls were among the key findings of this study. Service delivery implications and directions for future analyses are discussed.
University of South Florida.
Richard
R
Dembo
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
James
J
Schmeidler
Wayne State University.
Jennifer
J
Wareham
University of South Florida.
Rhissa
R
Briones-Robinson
University of Minnesota.
Ken C
KC
Winters
University of South Florida.
Rocio
R
Ungaro