Statewide Trends of Trauma History, Suicidality, and Mental Health Among Youth Entering the Juvenile Justice System

PURPOSE

This study used Washington statewide administrative data to document the prevalence and trend of trauma history, suicidality, and mental health problems among all youth ordered to probation for the first time between 2011 and 2015. We also examined the extent to which trauma and mental health problems were associated with youth suicide risk during this time.

METHODS

More than 16,500 youth started probation (2011-2015) and received a standardized risk assessment. We used descriptive statistics to assess the prevalence of trauma history, suicidality, mental health problems, and overall risk to reoffend. We then used multilevel logistic regression models (youth within counties) to assess each measure's association with suicidality.

RESULTS

About 80% of the youth had a history of at least one traumatic experience. As fewer youth started probation for the first time each year, the prevalence of trauma, suicidality, mental health problems, and overall risk to reoffend increased. Trauma, mental health, and overall risk were significantly associated with suicide risk among probation youth.

CONCLUSIONS

This epidemiological study is expected to motivate discussion around the best ways to integrate trauma-informed care and suicide prevention in the juvenile justice system.

Identifying and predicting criminal career profiles from adolescence to age 39

Few longitudinal studies are capable of identifying criminal career profiles using both self-report and official court data beyond the 30s. The current study aims to identify criminal career profiles across three developmental periods using self-report data, validate these profiles with official court records and determine early childhood predictors. Data came from the Seattle Social Development Project (n = 808). Latent Class Analysis was used to examine criminal careers from self-reported data during adolescence (aged 14-18), early adulthood (aged 21-27) and middle adulthood (aged 30-39). Official court records were used to validate the classes. Childhood risk and promotive factors measured at ages 11-12 were used to predict classes. Findings revealed four career classes: non-offending (35.6%), adolescence-limited (33.2%), adult desister (18.3%) and life-course/persistent (12.9%). Official court records are consistent with the description of the classes. Early life school and family environments as well as having antisocial beliefs and friends differentiate membership across the classes. The results of this study, with a gender-balanced and racially diverse sample, bolster the current criminal career knowledge by examining multiple developmental periods into the 30s using both self-report and official court data.

Longitudinal Associations among Depression, substance Abuse, and Crime: A Test of competing Hypotheses for Driving Mechanisms

PURPOSE

Crime, depression, and substance abuse, often co-occur. This study examined competing models considering each problem domain individually as a driving mechanism for the other problems to better understand etiology and inform prevention efforts. Gender differences were also examined.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a multiethnic and gender-balanced urban panel of 808 participants constituted in 1985. Cross- lagged models examined prospective assessments of early (grades 7 & 8) and late (grades 9-12) adolescent internalizing problems, substance use, and delinquency, as well as measures of depression, substance dependence, and crime at early adulthood (ages 21-24) and later adulthood (ages 27-30).

RESULTS

Comparisons of nested models by gender showed (a) continuity in internalizing behaviors/depression, substance use/dependence, and delinquency/crime for both women and men; (b) accounting for continuity, depression did not consistently drive other problems for either women or men; (c) among women, both substance abuse and crime appeared to be important driving mechanisms; and (d) among men, crime emerged as the most pertinent driving mechanism.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that externalizing problems may be more important driving mechanisms for depression than vice versa. Preventing crime and substance abuse may have the important added benefit of reducing early adult depression.

Developmental Pathways of Youth Gang Membership: A Structural Test of the Social Development Model

As a result of nearly 40 years of research using a risk and protective factor approach, much is known about the predictors of gang onset. Little theoretical work, however, has been done to situate this approach to studying gang membership within a more comprehensive developmental model. Using structural equation modeling techniques, the current study is the first to test the capacity of the social development model (SDM) to predict the developmental pathways that increase and decrease the likelihood of gang membership. Results suggest that the SDM provides a good accounting of the social developmental processes at age 13 that are predictive of later gang membership. These findings support the promotion of a theoretical understanding of gang membership that specifies both pro- and antisocial developmental pathways. Additionally, as the SDM is intended as a model that can guide preventive intervention, results also hold practical utility for designing strategies that can be implemented in early adolescence to address the likelihood of later gang involvement. Three key preventive intervention points to address gang membership are discussed, including promoting efforts to enhance social skills, increasing the availability of prosocial opportunities and rewarding engagement in these opportunities, and reducing antisocial socialization experiences throughout the middle- and high school years.

Examining Protective Factors Against Violence among High-risk Youth: Findings from the Seattle Social Development Project

PURPOSE

This paper examined proximal and distal effects of protective factors specified in the social development model (SDM) on youth violence among high-risk youth.

METHODS

Data come from the Seattle Social Development Project, a longitudinal study of development from childhood into adulthood. A community sample of 808 participants from the Seattle Public School District was surveyed from the 5th grade through adulthood. This paper uses data from participants' adolescent years, ages 10-18.

RESULTS

Higher levels of protective factors in early and middle adolescence reduced the odds of violence during late adolescence in the full sample and in two different risk groups (high cumulative risk and low SES). Although risk exposure increased the odds of violence, protective factors in middle adolescence predicted lower odds of violence during late adolescence. Importantly, protective factors had a greater effect in reducing violence among youth exposed to high levels of cumulative risk than among youth exposed to lower levels of cumulative risk. This difference was not observed between youth from higher and lower SES families.

CONCLUSION

Protective factors specified in the SDM appear to reduce violence in late adolescence even among youth from low SES families and youth exposed to high levels of cumulative risk.

When is youths' debt to society paid off? Examining the long-term consequences of juvenile incarceration for adult functioning

PURPOSE

To examine the long-term consequences of juvenile incarceration on functioning in adulthood (ages 27-33).

METHODS

Propensity score analysis was used to compare incarcerated youth with those who were never incarcerated in a subsample of individuals who had experienced at least one police contact in adolescence. Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), a multiethnic, gender balanced community sample.

RESULTS

Youth who were incarcerated in adolescence were more likely to experience incarceration at ages 27, 30, or 33, more likely to meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence, and more likely to be receiving public assistance than similar youth who were never incarcerated.

CONCLUSIONS

Results show that juvenile incarceration is not only ineffective at reducing criminal behavior later in life, but that there are also unintended consequences for incarceration beyond the criminal domain. Furthermore, it appears that once a youth becomes involved in the juvenile justice system, there is a higher likelihood that he/she will remain tethered to the criminal justice system through the transition to adulthood. Given these long-term deleterious outcomes, it is recommended that suitable alternatives to juvenile incarceration that do not jeopardize public safety be pursued.

Understanding the relationship between self-reported offending and official criminal charges across early adulthood

BACKGROUND

There has been very little research examining criminal careers in adulthood using both self-report data and official records.

AIMS

The aims of this paper are to use self-reports and official criminal records to explore (1) the prevalences and frequencies of offending behaviour in adulthood; (2) continuity in offending behaviour across the life course; and (3) predictors of official court charges in adulthood.

METHOD

Data are drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a longitudinal study of 808 participants followed from childhood into early adulthood. Data from ages 21 through 33 are used to examine criminal careers.

RESULTS

Prevalences of offending behaviour decreased with age, whilst frequency amongst offenders remained stable or increased. There was significant continuity in offending from adolescence to adulthood in both self-reports and official records, especially for violence. Violent offences were most likely to result in a court charge. Even after controlling for self-reported frequency of offending, demographic variables (gender, ethnicity, and poverty) were significantly related to a court charge.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-report and official records, both separately and together, provide valuable information for understanding criminal careers in adulthood, especially with regard to offending continuity across the life course and predicting the likelihood of a court charge.

The Developmental Dynamics of Joining a Gang in Adolescence: Patterns and Predictors of Gang Membership

Researchers have examined the predictors of adolescent gang membership, finding significant factors in the neighborhood, family, school, peers, and individual domains. However, little is known about whether risk and protective factors differ in predictive salience at different developmental periods. The present study examines predictors of joining a gang, tests whether these factors have different effects at different ages, and whether they differ by gender using the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) sample (n=808). By age 19, 173 participants had joined a gang. Using survival analysis, results showed that unique predictors of gang membership onset included living with a gang member, antisocial neighborhood, and antisocial peer influences in the previous year. No time or gender interactions with predictors were statistically significant.

Long-term consequences of adolescent gang membership for adult functioning

OBJECTIVES

We examined the possible public health consequences of adolescent gang membership for adult functioning.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a longitudinal study focusing on the development of positive and problem outcomes. Using propensity score matching and logistic regression analyses, we assessed the effects of adolescent gang membership on illegal behavior, educational and occupational attainment, and physical and mental health at the ages of 27, 30, and 33 years.

RESULTS

In comparison with their nongang peers, who had been matched on 23 confounding risk variables known to be related to selection into gang membership, those who had joined a gang in adolescence had poorer outcomes in multiple areas of adult functioning, including higher rates of self-reported crime, receipt of illegal income, incarceration, drug abuse or dependence, poor general health, and welfare receipt and lower rates of high school graduation.

CONCLUSIONS

The finding that adolescent gang membership has significant consequences in adulthood beyond criminal behavior indicates the public health importance of the development of effective gang prevention programs.