Using a 3-Round Delphi Technique, the current study aimed to ascertain consensus regarding parents' thoughts about the school, home, and community protective factors (i.e., preventive behavior interventions, behavior resources) needed to prevent adolescents from referral to behavior school and subsequent involvement in the juvenile system. A…

A diverse group of adolescents (N = 41) from a large city in the Midwestern United States participated in focus groups about misogynistic and homophobic language. Our qualitative analysis yielded two major themes. First, participants discussed this language as a way to regulate peers' conformity to norms related to gender and sexuality. Second,…

This paper emerges from an evaluation conducted by the author into the impact of a community-based intervention scheme designed to reduce perceived levels of "anti-social behaviour" amongst young people living in deprived communities. Drawing from this evaluation, the paper discusses the difficulties in assessing quantifiable measures of…

This study explores the relations between neighborhood social capital (neighbor support and social climate), safety concerns (fear of crime and concern for one's child), parenting (solicitation and support), and adolescent antisocial behavior in a sample of 952 parents (742 mothers) and 588 boys and 559 girls from five middle schools (sixth…

Background: Traditional approaches to reducing adolescents' socially inappropriate behaviour typically target individuals rather than groups. This case study investigates whether positive outcomes might accrue in social behaviours among a group of extraordinarily behaviourally-challenging youth resulting from a peer-mediated service-learning…

The aim of this research was to investigate the approaches being taken by local authorities (LAs) and partner organisations to improve how young people are perceived, especially in relation to crime and antisocial behaviour. The study also looked at the challenges for and benefits of activities aiming to improve public perceptions of young people,…

While delinquency has multiple causes, deviant peer affiliation is one of the strongest. In fact, a high proportion of violence, drug use, and other deviant behaviors are committed in groups, rather than in isolation. This article explores how practices within educational, mental health, juvenile justice, and community programs can lead to deviant…

Youth who present anti-social behavior need powerful interventions that strengthen empathy, counter negative peer influence, and challenge thinking errors. This article recaps some key points about EQUIP, a Positive Peer Culture (PPC)-based cognitive behavioral intervention program for behaviorally at-risk youth, and notes how the program has…

Over the past decade researchers have identified intervention strategies and program models that reduce delinquency and promote pro-social development. Preventing delinquency, says Peter Greenwood, not only saves young lives from being wasted, but also prevents the onset of adult criminal careers and thus reduces the burden of crime on its victims…

This authoritative, highly readable reference and text is grounded in the latest knowledge on how antisocial and criminal behavior develops in youth and how it can effectively be treated. Contributors describe proven ways to reduce juvenile delinquency by targeting specific risk factors and strengthening young people's personal, family, and…

We examined the immediate, short- and long-term effectiveness of the SNAP[TM] Under 12 Outreach Project (ORP)--a community-based program for children under the age of 12 at risk of having police contact. Sixteen pairs of children were matched on age, sex and severity of delinquency at admission, and randomly assigned to the ORP or to a control…

Violence among adolescent boys in impoverished urban areas is a major public health problem. We assessed violence-related attitudes and beliefs and exposures among 29 delinquent, 22 truant and 12 dependent of the state adolescent boys who attended an urban publicly funded extended day program. One purpose of this study was to assess violence…

Objective: There are few well-evaluated uncomplicated community-based interventions for childhood aggression. The authors assess the impact of a community-based anger management group on child aggressive behaviors, using a randomized, controlled trial (RCT). Method: Families with children 7 to 11 years old were recruited through advertisements and…

Scallywags is a community-based, early intervention programme for young children (aged 3-7) with behavioural, emotional and social problems, which integrates work in the home and school with a parenting curriculum and direct work with children. A pre-post intervention study across multi-sites of 340 participants is reported. Using standardised…

The problem is well known to every parent of a teenager, every high school teacher, every clinical practitioner, and every social policy maker: vulnerable adolescents risk becoming more deviant through association with deviant peers and peer groups. Deviant peer influences are among the most potent factors in the development of antisocial…