This project examined the problem behaviors of maltreated children and adolescents and the predictors of changes in behavior over an 18-month period. Problem behaviors included aggression, delinquency, risky sexual practices, substance abuse, and suicidal behaviors. The project used data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), a national probability survey of children assessed following a child maltreatment report. This collection consists of SAS code used to produce subsets of the NSCAW data and the analyses for three chapters of the project's final report. Chapter 2 examined aggression and changes in behavior over 18 months for children aged six to ten years at the time of the baseline interview. Chapter 3 examined self-reported delinquency and caregiver-reported aggressive and delinquent behavior and changes in behavior over 18 months for youth aged 11 to 15 years at the time of the baseline interview. Chapter 4 examined risky behavior changes (risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and suicidal risk behavior) over 18 months for youth aged 11 to 15 years at the time of the baseline interview.

The purpose of this study was to examine two sets of children -- those alleged dependent and neglected and those alleged delinquent -- in order to better understand the influence of maltreatment on delinquent conduct. Data were collected from official court records. The first group of children was selected from the dependency and neglected cases filed with the Juvenile Court in 1984 and 1985. The 1984-1985 Non-Pooled Dependency and Neglect Cohort Data (Part 1) contains a total of 1,062 cases, representing 1,062 alleged dependent and neglected children and their siblings. The 1984-1985 Pooled Dependency and Neglect Cohort Data (Part 3) includes 4,474 cases which correspond to up to 20 complaints for each of the 1,062 alleged dependent and neglected children. The second group was selected from delinquency petitions of children 16 and 17 years old filed in the years 2000 and 2001. The 2000-2001 Non-Pooled Delinquency Cohort Data (Part 2) contains a total of 549 cases, representing 549 delinquent children. The 2000-2001 Pooled Delinquency Cohort Data (Part 4) includes 2,076 cases which correspond to up to 20 complaints for each of the 549 delinquent children. Part 1 contains a total of 11 and Part 2 contains a total of 10 demographics and summary count information variables. Part 3 and Part 4 contain a total of 68 and 58 variables, respectively, including demographics and information on delinquent charges, complaints of maltreatment, placements, and dispositions for each child.

This session presented results from a recent systematic review of parent training programs that are intended to prevent behavior problems among children aged 0-7. Presenters discussed the implications of the findings and the translation of the the results for child maltreatment prevention. Presenters: Sandra Alexander, M.Ed. and Jennifer Wyatt Kaminski, Ph.D. View the Webinar (WMV - 29MB) Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

The purpose of the study was to expand understanding of the long-term consequences of juvenile delinquency by describing the prevalence and frequency of two adult outcomes -- arrest and the perpetration of abuse and neglect -- within a gender-diverse sample of known offenders. The researchers also sought to better inform the development and provision of services targeted to delinquent youth in residential care by exploring whether characteristics assessed at intake into care predict adult offending risk. The research team tracked a large sample of delinquent boys and girls released from juvenile correctional facilities/programs in New York State in the early 1990s and used state administrative databases to document their involvement with criminal justice and child protective services in young adulthood. Sample youth were initially drawn from a research database originally created to examine short-term criminal recidivism rates and associated risk factors among known juvenile delinquents (Frederick, 1999). As part of that study, a comprehensive list of adjudicated delinquents discharged from the custody of the New York State (NYS) Division of Youth between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 1994, was generated. The research team selected a stratified, random subsample of 999 youths with case reviews and tracked them forward through time from age 16 to age 28. The Administrative/Case File Review Data (Part 1) contain information on the experiences prior to being admitted into state custody of 999 youths. Specifically, Part 1 includes early risk factors taken from items coded during the initial recidivism study conducted by Frederick (1999). Part 1 also includes information on a youth's childhood experiences with child welfare services collected by the research team as part of this study. Information on a youth's prior receipt of child welfare services was obtained by extracting records from the NYS Child Care Review Service system (CCRS). The Child Protective Services Reports Data (Part 2) contain information on the sampled subjects' involvement with Child Protective Services (CPS) as young adults (ages 16-28). CPS data were collected by conducting person-based searches of CONNECTIONS, the NYS Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System. For Part 2, adult perpetration of child maltreatment outcome data were collected on a total of 1,543 child protective services (CPS) reports. The Criminal History Data (Part 3) contain information on the sampled subjects' early adult involvement (ages 16-28) with the NYS adult criminal justice system. The research team documented adult crime and perpetration of child abuse and neglect via searches of two independent state administrative databases: (1) the NYS Offender-Based Transaction Statistics Computerized Criminal History (OBTS/CCH) database, which records all New York state-based arrests of individuals age 16 or older from point of arrest through disposition and sentencing; (2) the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) database, which tracks all New York State prison admissions and discharges. For Part 3, data were collected on a total of 6,627 adult arrest events. Part 1 contains 30 variables detailing information on the study participants, including demographic variables and variables related to offense history, individual functioning, child maltreatment, receipt of child welfare services, and family environment. Part 2 includes 22 variables derived from child protective services (CPS) reports linked to a study participant, including variables relating to the participant's perpetration of child maltreatment, type of alleged maltreatment, investigation outcome, and outcome variables reflecting participants' involvement in various types of maltreatment allegations. Finally, Part 3 of the study contains 147 variables derived from specific adult arrest events associated with the participants, including arrest-specific variables, case outcome variables, and criminal history

The two main aims for the review were to assess evidence on whether parental imprisonment is a risk factor for undesirable child outcomes and to assess evidence on whether parental imprisonment is a causal risk factor. A third aim of the review was to investigate whether associations between parental imprisonment and child outcomes differ according to child, parent, and environmental characteristics. Between June and September 2008, researchers searched for studies that met the eligibility criteria. Several strategies were used to conduct an exhaustive search for eligible studies. Researchers started with an existing set of documents collected by Joseph Murray during his previous research on the effects of parental imprisonment on children and then used three methods to search for additional studies. First, researchers searched 23 electronic databases for the years 1960-2008. The same keywords were used to search each database. Second, researchers examined bibliographies of previous reviews of studies on the effects of parental imprisonment on children. Third, researchers contacted experts in the field. Two groups of researchers and practitioners were emailed and asked to inform researchers of any studies they thought might be eligible for the review. The 16 studies included in the review were coded for the following key features: reference information, sample characteristics, details about the measure of parental imprisonment, details of subsamples, and multiple comparisons made in the study, details of the comparison group(s) used to derive effect sizes, types of outcome measured, and measurement details, methods used to control for confounding variables to estimate causal effects, methodological quality of the study for drawing conclusions about risk factors and causal risk factors, and statistical information used to derive an effect size.

The study investigates protective factors for maltreated children and predictors of self-reported crime desistence among maltreated and multiply victimized children. Data are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, a prospective investigation of children and families that began in the 1970s. The original sample was comprised of 457 children and their families. Over 80 percent of the children, now adults, were most recently assessed in 2010, at an average of 36 years, using a comprehensive, interviewer-administered survey. Data on child maltreatment and related risk and protective factors were collected much earlier, beginning when participants were preschoolers, 18 months to 6 years of age. Childhood data are from multiple sources, including child welfare case observations of parents and children, school records, and parent and adolescent surveys. Data collected during adolescence and adulthood offer detailed accounts of the psychosocial adjustment and well-being of participants and their families at later life stages, ongoing experiences of abuse and victimization, self-reported crime and antisocial behavior, and protection and resilience.

The Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency was initiated by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in 1986 in an effort to learn more about the root causes of juvenile delinquency and other problem behaviors. The program comprises three coordinated longitudinal studies: Denver Youth Survey, Pittsburgh Youth Study and Rochester Youth Development Study. The three Causes and Correlates projects used a similar research design. All of the projects were longitudinal investigations involving repeated contacts with youth during a substantial portion of their developmental years. Researchers conducted regular face-to-face interviews with inner-city youth considered at high-risk for involvement in delinquency and drug abuse. Multiple perspectives on each child's development and behavior were obtained through interviews with the child's primary caretaker and, in two sites, school teachers. Administrative data from official agencies, including police, schools and social services was also collected. The three research teams worked together to ensure that certain core measures were identical across the sites, including self-reported delinquency and drug use; community and neighborhood characteristics; youth, family and peer variables; and arrest and judicial processing histories. NACJD is developing a resource guide on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency Data. It will be available soon.

The ‘Predicting And Preventing Child Neglect In Teen Mothers’ project was designed to assess the impact of varying degrees and types of neglect and poor parenting on children’s development during the first 3 years of life, including changes in intelligence and behavior, language, social and emotional well-being, physical growth, and health status. This study included a broad array of assessments related to the construct of childhood neglect, and can be used to test the developmental associations among parenting characteristics, parenting behaviors and attitudes, and child development in multiple domains. Six hundred and eighty-two expectant mothers were recruited during pregnancy through primary care facilities in the communities of Birmingham, AL, Kansas City, KS, South Bend, IN, and Washington, D.C. Three different groups of first-time mothers were included in the sample: adolescents (n=396), low-ed adults (less than 2 years formal education beyond high school; n=169), and hi-ed adults (at least 2 years of formal education; n=117). The mothers’ ages at child birth ranged from 14.68 to 36.28, with an average of 17.49 for the adolescents, 25.48 for the low-ed adults, and 27.88 for the hi-ed adults. Approximately 65% of the sample were African-American, 19% were White/Non-Hispanic, 15% were Hispanic, 1% were multi-racial, and .5% were of an other race. The adolescent and low-ed adult samples were closely matched on race/ethnicity. Mothers were interviewed in their last trimester of pregnancy as well as when their children were 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36-months old. Interviews at the prenatal, 6, 12, 24, and 36-month visits primarily focused on risks for poor parenting, such as maternal depression (Beck II), parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index – Short Form), and lack of social support; parenting beliefs and practices; as well as other demographic information. The 4, 8, 18, and 30-month visits occurred in the home and included both interviews and observations of parenting practices (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment, Supplement to the HOME for Impoverished Families, and Landry Naturalistic Observation). After each of the home visits, mothers were given a cellular phone and interviewed multiple times concerning their daily parenting practices (Parent-Child Activities Interview). At the 12, 24, and 36-months visits, the children were also tested for intellectual (Bayley II) and language abilities (Pre-School Language Scales – IV), rated on their behavior by both their mother (Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment) and child tester (Bayely Behavioral Rating Scale II), and their height and weight were measured. Upon completing each assessment after the child’s birth, the interviewers also rated the child’s environment for risks of physical neglect. This study represents one of the first-ever prospective broad-based, multi-site investigations of child neglect among a diverse sample of adolescent mothers and will help to establish a foundation for future preventive interventions to reduce the incidence and impact of neglect and abuse on child development. This data set provides a broad range of risk and protective factors to better map the multiple and fluctuating social ecologies and life circumstances of teen mothers and their young children. This dataset contains data from pre-natal to 36-months. Please note: attachment codes, Parent-Child Activity interviews, short cell phone interviews are NOT included in this data collection. Investigators: John G. BorkowskiUniversity of Notre Dame Notre Dame, INJudy CartaUniversity of Kansas Kansas City, KSSteven F. WarrenUniversity of Kansas Lawrence, KSSharon L. RameyGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCCraig RameyGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCKristi GuestUniversity of Alabama - Birmingham Birmingham, ALBette KeltnerGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCRobin G. LanziGeorgetown University NW Washington, DCLorraine KlermanBrandeis University Wa

This study was a program evaluation of the Reasoning and Rehabilitation Cognitive Skills Development Program, an educational program that taught cognitive skills to offenders, as implemented in juvenile intensive supervision probation in Colorado. Using an experimental design, researchers sought to measure the extent of change in attitudes and behaviors due to the cognitive skills program by administering pre- and post-test interviews. Researchers also measured recidivism by conducting interviews with probation officers who supervised the offenders in the sample six months after termination from intensive supervision. These interviews were supplemented with administrative records data that provided background information about the sample. In addition, administrative data were collected on all juveniles sentenced to intensive supervision during fiscal years 1994 and 1995 to compare juveniles in the sample with all juveniles in the intensive program. Variables in this collection include cognitive measures, such as impulsivity, problem-solving ability, egocentricity, and cognitive style. Other variables measure emotional responses to various situations, attitudes toward the law, values, drug abuse, program participation, and recidivism. Administrative data include age, gender, ethnicity, offense of conviction, and basic assessment data.

In nearly every state and in the vast majority of juvenile justice agencies, risk assessments are incorporated into diversion, case management, supervision, and placement practices. Despite two decades of use within the juvenile justice system, little research regarding the methods of risk assessment development is discussed or translated to the field and practitioners. Many of the contemporary tools used today are implemented off-the-shelf, meaning that tools were developed with a specific set of methods, selecting and weighting items used in the prediction of a specified sample of youth. What is not known is how the various designs, methods, and circumstances of tool development impact the predictive performance when adopted by a jurisdiction. This study seeks to provide input into this dilemma. Demographic information in this study includes age, race, and sex.