No description available.

No description available.

This study was predicated on the belief that a father brings something unique to the family, thus, making irreplaceable contributions to the life of a child. Fathers are unique in that they provide something different from mothers. They are irreplaceable because when they are absent, children are said to suffer emotionally, intellectually, socially, and behaviorally. The contributions of fathers to a child's well being cannot be fully replaced by better programming, ensuring child support programs, or even by well-intentioned mentoring programs. A review of literature relevant to delinquency and adolescent behavioral and academic success revealed that there may be a correlation between a male role-model and the teaching of self-control and socially appropriate behaviors. Indeed, much of what the large body of research pertaining to fatherhood reveals is that, compared to children raised in two-parent homes, children who grow up without their fathers have significantly worse outcomes, on average, on almost every measure of well being (Horn, 2002). In addition, an understanding of the factors that may influence delinquent behaviors, in particular within the family unit, can better equip parents and educators to support those who may be exhibiting the beginning signs of delinquent behavior. This study was designed to determine the influence of, or correlation between, juvenile delinquency and the presence or absence of a father-figure in a child's life. Responses made on the Delinquency Check List between two sample sets, delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents, were examined. The study attempted to determine if delinquent activity among adolescents was differentiated by the absence or presence of a father-figure in a child's life. This study also investigated the frequency and severity of delinquent activities between adolescents in the determined sample groups.

This research examines agency data for participants in a truancy intervention program. Previous literature provides mostly descriptive information and fails to examine the effects of truancy intervention efforts. The analysis provides a profile of truant participants referred to the program and factors that correlate to successful completion of the program requirements. The results will be applicable to the study program as evaluation research and will be generalized for application to other truancy programs. Directions for future truancy research will be suggested based on the need to continue to evaluate truancy reduction efforts.

No description available.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1943 S6 / Master of Science

During the 1990's the number of young people being permanently excluded from school increased from 2910 (1990-91) to a peak of 12700 (1996-1997). This increase coincided with the resurgence of the debate centring on lawless and delinquent youth. With the publication of Young People and Crime (Graham and Bowling, 1995) and Misspent Youth (Audit Commission, 1996) the role of school exclusion in delinquency causation appears to have become widely accepted within youth justice thinking. Indeed, and despite the limited research evidence available, the common sense assumption that school exclusion inexorably promotes crime received wide support, something which has resulted in the excluded pupil being portrayed as a latter day folk devil. This research seeks to question this taken-for-granted assumption. By drawing upon what can be broadly described as a refutationist approach, the research questions the causal priority of school exclusion in youth crime. Research interviews were conducted with 56 young people who had experience of being excluded from school. Self-report questions revealed that 40 young people had offended of whom 28 had been cautioned or prosecuted for an offence. Despite the high levels of offending present within the sample the research findings suggest that exclusion is not itself a causal factor with 90% (36) of those young people who had offended reporting onset that commenced prior to their first exclusion. Moreover, 50 (89%) of the total number of young people stated that they were no more likely to commit crime since being excluded. Indeed - and rather significantly, for 31 (55.4%) respondents it appeared that due to the imposition of parental sanction, offending was likely to reduce during their exclusion as they were" grounded" for the whole exclusion period. Moreover, interviews with the young people also revealed that in addition to school exclusion a number of other identified "risk" factors were present in the lives of most of the young people within the sample (see for example Farrington, 1996; Youth Justice Board, 2001). The research concludes that whilst the relationship between school exclusion and crime is highly complex it is certainly neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for a young person to commit crime.

This communication study investigated characteristics of evidence that influenced memory and beliefs about juvenile delinquency across multiple time periods. Four hypotheses were proposed: (H1) vivid evidence is more memorable than nonvivid evidence, (H2) story evidence is more memorable than statistical evidence, (H3) vivid evidence is more persuasive than nonvivid evidence after 48 hours, but not after one week, and (H4) story evidence is more persuasive than statistical evidence after 1 week, but not after 48 hours. A 2 x 2 x 3 factorial design with an offset control was employed, using evidence (story or statistical), vividness (vivid or nonvivid), and time (immediate, or 48 hour delay, or 1 week delay) as independent variables, and recognition memory and judgment of belief as dependent variables. Four written messages, reflecting a complete crossing of evidence and vividness, were used as different types of evidence to attempt to persuade beliefs. A total of 280 undergraduate college students participated in the experiment. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported by main effects for vividness and evidence, and by a significant ordinal two-way interaction between vividness and evidence such that vivid story was the most memorable form of evidence. The two-way interactions used to test Hypotheses 3 and 4 were nonsignificant. A main effect for evidence related to Hypothesis 4 indicated that statistical evidence was more persuasive than story evidence at the delayed time periods. Thus, Hypotheses 3 and 4 were not supported. Alternative explanations were discussed to account for the persuasiveness of statistical evidence and the lack of persuasiveness of story evidence at the delayed time periods. Limitations of the study were noted, such as the small amount of experimental variance accounted for in some of the findings, and the limited generalizability of the findings. Finally, several suggestions for future research, including reconceptualizing evidence as a multidimensional construct, were presented.

No description available.

This study examined the roles of emotion regulation, negative emotional reactivity, callous-unemotional traits, and socioemotional competence (i.e., identity, self-esteem, communication skills, work orientation, empathy) in overt aggression in a sample of detained juvenile offenders. Clusters were formed based on type and level of overt aggression exhibited: reactive, proactive/reactive, and low aggression. The proactive/reactive distinction failed to provide differential relationships with dependent variables when compared to an overall level of overt aggression. Results indicate that adolescents high in overall overt aggression exhibit higher levels of callousunemotional traits and negative reactivity, as well as lower levels of selfconcept and self-esteem when compared to those low in overt aggression. Additionally, youth with high levels of both overt aggression and callous-unemotional traits displayed significantly lower levels of empathy. No significant findings for overt aggression and emotion regulation emerged. Implications for interventions with adolescent offenders as well as future research directions are discussed.