Presents a detailed overview of the Family Empowerment Intervention (FEI), a system-oriented intervention delivered in-home by well-trained nontherapists. A clinical trial of FEI targeted arrested youths and their families. Topics covered included: theoretical foundations and goals of FEI, structural intervention strategies, and phases of the…

Objective: To examine racial/ethnic patterns of parental beliefs about etiological explanations for youth problems. Method: The parents of 1,338 youths with identified mental health problems were asked about their beliefs about the causes for their children's problems from a questionnaire with 11 etiological categories. Results: Parents of African…

A focus on youth development is the strongest means of prevention of problems faced by Latino youths. Latino youths are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population and have high rates of developmental deficits. However, youth development researchers have not attended to the inclusion and reporting of results for Latino youths. This study…

Community-based programs in the juvenile justice system present a promising alternative to the disappointing results achieved by large institutional facilities. A diverse group of states has found that intensive, individualized services provided in small, family-like residential settings or in the juvenile's own home yield comparable or reduced…

A study used a three-tiered process to identify the range of available aftercare programming in 52 correctional boot camps. The process included a telephone survey, creation of boot camp and aftercare program summaries, and site visits. Existing research indicated that boot camps were not necessarily lowering rates of recidivism, but this…

During the past several years, national attention has focused increasingly on the many problems facing youth. The Federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974 was passed to address this growing problem. The Act stipulates that every Federal agency that administers a juvenile delinquency program must produce a juvenile…

Moral reasoning, engagement in risk, and domain placement of risk as a moral, conventional, or personal issue were assessed in two groups of students: an intervention group participating in an alternative school program employing the just community approach to education, and a control group from the larger high school with which the alternative…

This booklet was written to provide an understanding of aggression and violence in youth. Its purpose is to help parents, professionals, and other concerned citizens prevent or reduce these potentially dangerous behaviors. The introduction notes that many experts agree that aggression and violence are on the rise in America. The first section of…

This handbook shares some practical and conceptual knowledge about gangs in schools and suggests some strategies for coping with gang problems in schools. A radical approach is proposed which advocates assimilating gangs into the fabric of daily school life. The strategies were derived from two formal studies conducted from 1982 to 1990 on Los…

This document is one of eight in a series of guides designed to help teach and counsel troubled youth. This document focuses on the social skills necessary for on-the-job success. It includes 20 lesson plans that help students learn appropriate behaviors at the work place. The first lesson instructs students on what to wear and bring to work.…

General guidance is offered in the planning and implementation of community-based strategies for the prevention of tobacco use among youth. Ideas and data are organized by means of the Prevention Enhancement Protocols System (PEPS), which is a systematic process for evaluating prevention research and practice evidence, assessing the strength of…

A substantial knowledge base exists on reduction of tobacco use by youth. Effective prevention in this area can have major health and economic benefits. Information from research and prevention practice, organized by means of the Prevention Enhancement Protocols System (PEPS), is provided in the form of guidelines and recommendations for planning…

This book asks readers to shed preconceptions about teenage pregnancy and listen to the compelling voices of young women and men who are soon to become parents although barely out of childhood themselves. From conversations with teenagers across racial, geographic, and socioeconomic lines, the book weaves a narrative that reveals the aspirations…

This study examined two pilot mentoring programs which were designed to provide information on the feasibility of integrating mentoring relationships into the juvenile justice system. Each program, one in St. Louis, Missouri and one in Atlanta, Georgia, sought to recruit, train, and match 100 adult volunteers (half over the age of 55) with 100…

Youth gangs are not a new phenomena in the United States; however, in the past decade the number of gang members has increased dramatically. Gang prevention-intervention programs are a necessary part of every school's curriculum. Students join gangs for a variety of reasons ranging from boredom to intent on criminal behavior. One characteristic…