Age and Strengths in a Community Corrections Sample

Abstract

Variables conceptualized as strengths are theoretically important for the management of recidivism risk among juveniles and adults. Although measures of strengths are related to recidivism outcomes, little is known about whether these factors may vary in prevalence or predictive validity across age. We examined the predictive validity of strengths among male parolees supervised within community corrections (N = 3,169) rated by supervision officers. The prevalence of strengths did not differ across age. Further, strengths exhibited a promotive effect across all age groups in that predictive validity was consistent across age, with the exception that strength variables were associated with an enhanced promotive effect among older individuals when predicting violent community outcomes. In particular, prosocial relationships were more strongly related to reduced violent recidivism among older compared to younger parolees. Further research is required to identify factors that may have protective or buffering effects among higher risk younger individuals.

Keywords:

• Strengths
• protective factors
• age
• risk assessment
• recidivism

Disclosure statement

The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of New Zealand Department of Corrections. The dataset used in this project was also used in two previous doctoral dissertations (Hanby, 2013; Lloyd, 2015). Ralph C. Serin is the author and holds the copyright of the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR) tool. Caleb D. Lloyd and Ralph C. Serin are co-authors of the 2017 version of the DRAOR scoring manual and co-developers of the DRAOR training program and training certification.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.