Effects of Community-Based Group-Home Treatment Programs on Male Juvenile Offenders′ Use and Abuse of Drugs and Alcohol

Abstract

The research literature suggests that adolescents placed in residential programs due to their delinquent behavior are at high risk for drug and alcohol use and abuse. Research is rare, however, on the effects of residential delinquency-treatment programs on drug- and alcohol-related behaviors. This study examined the comparative effects of community-based, group-home, delinquency-treatment programs in Kansas on participants′ self-report measures of drug and alcohol use and abuse, and of some prosocial behaviors. The results indicated that youths (n = 82) participating in group homes using the broadly disseminated Teaching-Family approach had better during-treatment outcomes than youths (n = 103) participating in a set of comparison group homes. Corroboratively, a sample of Teaching-Family youths (n = 28) also had better during-treatment outcomes than a matched no-treatment comparison group of their friends (n = 28), while, in contrast, a sample of youths (n = 33) in the comparison group homes did not differ on during-treatment measures from a matched no-treatment comparison group of their friends (n = 33).In the post-treatment year, however, no outcome difference was evident for any of the comparisons. Regression analyses were conducted to attempt to account for variation in the during treatment drug use and prosocial behavior measures. Significant regression coefficients were found for some measures of treatment process and for measures of youths′ pretreatment behavior. In a second set of regression equations, the process and pretreatment measures were less effective in accounting for variance in posttreatment outcomes. The limitations of the research and its implications for the treatment and prevention of drug and alcohol use and abuse in group-home delinquency-treatment programs are discussed.