An analysis of racial and sex differences for smoking among adolescents in a juvenile correctional center.

The purpose of this study was to investigate racial and sex differences on the risk factors for smoking initiation and daily smoking among juvenile justice adolescents, a population that is traditionally ignored in school-based epidemiological samples. This study used archival data collected by juvenile justice authorities for a large sample of juvenile justice adolescents (N=4381), examining interaction terms to determine race and sex differences for risk factors. About 70% of juvenile justice adolescents reported ever having smoked cigarettes while almost half reported daily smoking. Overall predictors of ever and daily smoking included older age, being female, White, use of alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine in the past year, affiliation with smoking peers, not living with at least one parent, and a diagnosis of ADHD. While differences were seen between individual predictor models for both race and sex, the interaction terms did not add significantly to the overall model. These important racial and gender differences in this study suggest that tailored prevention messages and interventions may be needed to be most effective with adolescents in the juvenile justice system. While this study provides a basic foundation of risk factors for smoking among juvenile justice adolescents, future research is needed to assess the efficacy of treatment and prevention interventions with this high risk group of adolescent smokers.

A latent variable modeling approach to identifying subtypes of serious and violent female juvenile offenders.

Females have recently become an important population in research related to serious and violent juvenile offending. Although a small body of research exists on girls in the deep end of the system, very few studies have examined the degree of heterogeneity within high-risk female samples. This study applied latent class analysis (LCA) to identify subgroups of female juvenile offenders based on their self-report of offending profiles (N=133). Results supported a three-class solution with subgroups characterized by patterns of 'violent and delinquent', 'delinquency only', and 'low' offending patterns. The LCA solution was replicated in an independent sample of high-risk females. The 'violent and delinquent' class was characterized by significantly higher rates of DSM-IV diagnoses for internalizing disorders, affect dysregulation, exposure to violence (within the home, school and neighborhood), and familial histories of criminality. Implications for future research, policy and clinical practice are discussed.

Juvenile sex offender re-arrest rates for sexual, violent nonsexual and property crimes: a 10-year follow-up.

We report the results of a 10-year follow-up recidivism study of two sex offender treatment programs for incarcerated juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) in Virginia. The programs vary in environment and intensity. The more intense JSO program ("self-contained") operates in specialized living units that are separate from those of the general juvenile incarcerated population. In the less intense program ("prescriptive"), JSOs remain housed with the general population of juvenile offenders. Arrest and incarceration data through January 2003 were obtained for 261 male JSOs released between 1992 and 2001. The inclusion of adult incarceration data allowed for a more accurate assessment of the actual time at risk for sexual re-offending. Outcomes are re-arrest rates, length of time to re-arrest and type of offense (property, nonsexual assault, sexual) on re-arrest, with analyses using survival curve functions. For both groups, actual re-arrest is most likely to be for a nonsexual person offense (31 and 47%, respectively) and least likely to be for a sexual offense (<5% for both groups). Comparing the nonequivalent groups, the self-contained treatment group has a lower predicted re-arrest rate and a longer mean time to re-arrest, for all types of offenses, than the prescriptive treatment group. In addition, juveniles who indicate high levels of impulsive/antisocial behaviors are significantly more likely to recidivate compared to juveniles with low-levels of impulsive/antisocial behaviors, regardless of treatment type. This is the first 10-year follow-up study of treatment outcomes for a relatively large sample of males who were incarcerated for sexual offenses as juveniles.