Family Factors Associated With Delinquency Outcomes in Court-Involved Youth in Mental Health Treatment

Abstract

Objective

To examine the impact of baseline family functioning and parental monitoring on engagement in and severity of delinquent acts of court-involved youth (CIY) after 6 months of mental health treatment.

Method

Adolescent (mean age =15.16 years) CIY (N = 165) recruited from 2 US cities completed questionnaires at baseline and at 6 months during their court-mandated mental health treatment with a 71% (n =117) completion rate. Youth were mostly male (61.5%) and White (64.1%). Baseline demographics and psychosocial variables that were significantly associated with 6-month delinquency engagement and severity in initial analyses were entered into regressions.

Results

In initial analyses, baseline alcohol use, cannabis use, parental monitoring, and family functioning were associated with 6-month delinquency engagement and severity (ps < .05). Regressions demonstrated that after controlling for baseline psychiatric symptoms and demographics, baseline alcohol use, cannabis use, and parental monitoring had small to medium effects on 6-month delinquency engagement and severity.

Conclusion

In CIY enrolled in mental health treatment, youth with substance use and less parental monitoring at baseline were more likely to have higher engagement in and severity of delinquency at 6 months. This suggests that clinical interventions that target these factors could reduce delinquency. Future directions for this research include improving our understanding of the biopsychosocial factors in this population and better tailoring of existing family-based interventions that target substance use for CIY in mental health treatment.

Plain language summary

This study utilized the longitudinal data of 117 court-involved youth who were mandated to mental health treatment in two Eastern US cities. The results showed that substance use and less parental monitoring at the start of treatment predicted engagement in and severity of delinquency after six months of treatment. Findings suggest that interventions tailored toward specifically targeting these factors may help to reduce delinquency.

Clinical Trial Registration Information

Integrated Mental Health Treatment & HIV Prevention for Court-Involved Youth (ITP); https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01421485.

Diversity & Inclusion Statement

We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented sexual and/or gender groups in science.