Applying Item Response Theory Analysis to the SAVRY in Justice-Involved Youth.

This study investigated item- and test-level functioning of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and differential item functioning (DIF) across gender and race/ethnicity in justice-involved youth (JIY) using item response theory analysis. Participants were 868 JIY (23.7% female; 26.

Effectiveness of a social problem solving training in youth in detention or on probation: An RCT and pre-post community implementation.

The effectiveness of a 10-session social problem-solving training (SPST) was evaluated in two independent studies in a juvenile justice (JJ) setting. In both studies, we aimed to examine main intervention effects on social problem-solving skills and recidivism, as well as differential effects as modulated by anger, anger regulation, and single nucleotide polymorphisms in the COMT gene. In Study 1, a randomized controlled trial (RCT), 289 male detainees (M= 14.

Violent offending among juveniles: A 7-year longitudinal study of recidivism, desistance, and associations with mental health.

Serious and violent offending among juveniles is a consistent concern of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, yet the development of violent offending remains poorly understood because of limited availability of relevant data, small sample sizes, and shortage of longitudinal data sets. This study analyzed developmental patterns of violent offending over 7 years in the complete population of court-referred youth in Connecticut between 2006 and 2012 (N = 58,678; mean age at first offense = 14.7 years).