NCJ Number
80927
Date Published
1981
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from a longitudinal study of the effects of a counseling program for juveniles upon subsequent behavior.
Abstract
By 1942, 253 matched pairs of boys remained in a study program designed to measure the impact of a counseling program on subsequent behavior. These 506 boys are the subjects in the present study. Each of the 253 boys in the treatment group was assigned to a social worker who was expected to build a close relationship with the boy while providing needed assistance to both the boy and his family. When the program ended in 1945, those in the treatment group had been visited on the average of twice a month for 5 1/2 years. Over half had been tutored in academic subjects; over 100 received medical or psychiatric attention; almost half had been sent to summer camps; and most of the boys had participated in such activities as swimming, visits to local athletic competitions, and work in the project's woodshop. The 253 boys in the control group had not received any organized intervention. The current followup study began in 1975. By January 1979, 98 percent of the men had been located. They were asked to respond to a questionnaire and consent to an interview. An undesirable outcome involved conviction of an index crime, death before 35 years of age, or medical diagnoses of alcoholism, schizophrenia, or manic-depressive. Forty-two percent of those from the treatment group compared to 32 percent from the control group had undesirable outcomes. This finding is believed due to having raised the expectations of the treatment group without also providing the means for increasing satisfactions. The resulting disillusionment seems to have contributed to the probability of having an undesirable outcome. Graphic and tabular data and five references are provided.