A Developmental Perspective on Reentry: Understanding the Causes and Consequences of Family Conflict and Peer Delinquency during Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Adolescent responses to paternal verbal aggression: Assessing spillover and compensatory processes using random intercept cross-lagged panel models

INTRODUCTION

Prior research suggests several pathways through which verbal aggression manifests across adolescent relationship contexts, including spillover (continuity of aggression across different relationships) and compensation (offsetting an aggressive relationship with less aggression in other relationships). These pathways vary across timescales in ways that between-person analytic approaches are unlikely to adequately capture. The current study used random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) to examine adolescents' spillover and compensatory responses to paternal verbal aggression.

METHODS

Participants were 184 adolescents (53.2% female) from a United States community sample participating in a longitudinal study. Annually from ages 13-17, participants reported on their experiences of verbal aggression in their paternal and maternal relationships and participated in observed interactions with a close peer that were coded for aggressive behavior.

RESULTS

Spillover was observed from father-adolescent to mother-adolescent and adolescent-peer contexts in analyses at the between-person level, likely capturing long-term, cumulative effects of paternal aggression. Conversely, compensation was observed in analyses at the within-person level, likely capturing medium-term (i.e., year-to-year) adaptations to paternal aggression: Adolescents who experienced more aggression from their father than expected at a specific time point were less likely to both perpetrate and experience aggression in maternal and peer relationships the following year. Several findings differed across teen gender, with compensation more likely to occur in males than females.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the multiple pathways by which father-adolescent aggression may be linked to behavior in other relationships in the medium- and long-term. They also support the value of RI-CLPM in decomposing these effects.

Improving adolescent sleep in long-term Juvenile correctional settings: case examples with clinical, research, and policy implications

Poor sleep during adolescence is a public health concern that may be especially important to address among youth in juvenile correctional facilities, who tend to experience greater mental health challenges, substance use disorders, and traumatic stress exposure. However, evidence for addressing sleep in correctional settings is limited. Using de-identified composite clinical cases, this paper describes challenges and opportunities for addressing sleep disorders (i.e. insomnia) and promoting sleep health (i.e. improving duration, regularity, and behaviors) among adolescents in long-term juvenile correctional facilities. These clinical cases highlight common presenting problems and underscore the need for integrated sleep and mental health interventions as well as adaptations to enhance feasibility and efficacy of behavioral sleep treatment and sleep health promotion in juvenile correctional contexts. We conclude by summarizing clinical, research, and policy implications for addressing adolescent sleep problems and promoting sleep health and well-being in these contexts.

A Multi-System Approach to Investigate Different Forms of Delinquency in Female Adolescents at Risk: Family, School, and Peers

The delinquency of female adolescents at risk has increased conspicuously, much to the concern of human service and public health practitioners. Nevertheless, prior findings of pertinent research have commonly been based on samples of male or gender-mixed participants, especially general youths in the community. These cannot adequately explicate the impacts of different contextual systems on at-risk female adolescents, who are, in fact, more vulnerable to developing delinquency. Based on cross-sectional data collected from a sample of 236 at-risk female adolescents with the help of a large social work organization, the present study investigated and compared the effects of family, school, and peer systems on different forms of delinquency among at-risk female adolescents. The results show that positive family functioning, constructive school experiences, and deviant peer influence were predictive of both self-destructive and other-destructive delinquency in at-risk adolescent girls, respectively, but the effects were significantly different depending on which contextual systems influenced what forms of delinquency. Furthermore, the relationships between positive family functioning and both forms of delinquency were significantly mediated by the effects of constructive school experiences and deviant peer influence, giving support to the distal role of family and the proximal functions of school and peers in adolescence. Implications for policy prevention and interventions to strengthen the contextual supports in different social systems to help female adolescents at risk are discussed.

Implications for a System of Care in Hawai'i for Youth Involved in the Justice System and Substance Use

The shift from punitive responses to restorative public health approaches to tackle the problem of youth substance use and justice system involvement follow a nationwide trend. Hawai'i has made significant strides towards transforming the justice system and developing effective substance abuse programs. However, these efforts require changes in policies, practices, and paradigms to be fully and permanently realized. Such a philosophical shift requires a major reallocation of resources from downstream, high-cost punitive modalities, such as incarceration, to upstream solutions that allow adolescents to heal past trauma and grow the understanding and tools to lead a healthy and meaningful life. Research and evaluation to support ongoing learning and system improvement will also be required. Most critically, taking an approach to work with youth so they can overcome the root problems they face holds the most promise of ending the cycle of justice involvement and substance use that the state has witnessed for far too long.

Youth Reentry from Prison and Family Violence Perpetration: the Salience of Family Dynamics

The central role of family within the process of juvenile reentry from a term of incarceration has been well documented by researchers and practitioners alike. However, family violence among previously incarcerated youth remains alarmingly high across the United States. Drawing from differential coercion and social support theory, we examine how family dynamics may simultaneously promote and/or inhibit family violence perpetration among youth undergoing the process of reentry. Four waves of panel data from the male-only youth subsample of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative are analyzed using a series of dynamic panel data models. Findings demonstrate that both pre- and post-release levels of family conflict are significantly associated with increased family violence during reintegration. Mechanisms of family support, however, are not associated with post-release family violence. Results from this study highlight the salience of family conflict in understanding family violence perpetration among recently released juveniles and their families.

(Re)Recognizing the multidimensional roles of family and peers on crime

Social scientists have long recognized the salience of family and peers in understanding the etiology of crime and delinquency. Although criminologists universally acknowledge that family and peers can each exert prosocial and antisocial influences on offending behaviors, this area of study has gradually divided into a "good" and "bad" dichotomy. Specifically, family tends to be viewed and measured as a key factor that protects against offending. In stark contrast, peers tend to be viewed and measured as key correlates toward offending. In the following discussion, we explore the historical roots of this tendency through examining how key theoretical perspectives have shaped this dichotomy and informed current perspectives on the link between family, peers, and crime. We then highlight how some studies have stepped outside of this dichotomy to consider the independent and interdependent roles of family and peers as both positive and negative influences on offending behaviors. Overall, there is nothing new about understanding peers and family as both prosocial and criminogenic in their influences; rather, there is a greater need to (re)recognize these multifaceted roles in modern criminological studies.