Implementation of a Behavioral Intervention in a Juvenile Detention Center: Do Individual Characteristics Matter?

ABSTRACT

A sample of 129 (73% male) youth admitted consecutively into a juvenile detention center were used to examine individual characteristics that contribute the implementation of a behavioral intervention within a juvenile detention center. Given that a system of rewards and punishments is considered the mechanism of change within many behavioral interventions, individuals risk characteristics (i.e., proactive and reactive aggression, behavioral inhibition, subsystems of behavioral activation, callous-unemotional traits, perceived containment) were examined in relation to the rewards (i.e., positive feedback) and punishments (i.e., fines) used by the facility. Data were collected via structured interviews with youth and archival data. The number of days youth spent in detention was the only predictor of positive feedback received. Number of days in detention, sex, and race were related to fines. Behavioral activation drive was the only individual characteristic related to fines. Implications of findings are discussed.