Beyond treatment effects: comorbid psychopathologies and long-term outcomes among substance-abusing delinquents.

Secondary analyses of a randomized clinical trial controlled for treatment condition effects and examined the impact of comorbid psychopathologies on the mental health, physical health, and criminal behavior of 80 substance abusing delinquents approximately 5 years later in emerging adulthood. Overall, emerging adults with a comorbid disorder during adolescence scored higher on psychopathology, criminal behavior, and health problems. Participants with both internalizing and externalizing disorders exhibited more negative outcomes than those with a comorbid externalizing disorder.

Beyond treatment effects: predicting emerging adult alcohol and marijuana use among substance-abusing delinquents.

Secondary analyses of a randomized clinical trial examined the effects of 4 putative risk factors and 2 protective factors in predicting drug use among 80 emerging adults treated 5 years earlier for delinquency and alcohol and/or marijuana use disorders. Frequency of marijuana use and the number of comorbid psychiatric disorders in adolescence predicted cannabis use in emerging adulthood. Increasing academic competence at high levels of social competence predicted less marijuana use.

Aggressive juvenile offenders transitioning into emerging adulthood: factors discriminating persistors and desistors.

Aggressive juvenile offenders (mean age = 15.6 years) were classified as persistors (n = 55) or desistors (n = 25) with aggressive crimes 5 years later (mean age = 20.6 years).

Randomized clinical trials, developmental theory, and antisocial youth: guidelines for research.

The design of effective interventions for antisocial adolescents has been greatly influenced by research-based developmental theories. However, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) demonstrating effectiveness of these treatments have contributed minimally to alterations and refinements of these theories. In this article, nine guidelines for research that may enhance the contributions of RCTs to developmental theory are proposed: (1) use mediational analyses to test and refine theories of change; (2) use moderator analyses to test differential pathways to change; (3) assess change processes separately for different types of antisocial behavior; (4) use constructive and dismantling designs to isolate effects of intervention components on targeted mediators and outcomes; (5) assess the time-sensitive nature of change mechanisms with theoretically relevant spacing of multiple assessments and long-term follow-ups; (6) expand the nomological net of developmental theories by assessing intervention effects on nontargeted constructs; (7) use RCTs to disentangle direction of effects questions in developmental theories; (8) conduct secondary analyses of RCTs to assess extra-treatment influences on antisocial behavior; and (9) assess the generalizability of mediator and moderator effects.

Four-year follow-up of multisystemic therapy with substance-abusing and substance-dependent juvenile offenders.

Objective: Although several treatments for adolescent substance abuse have been identified as promising by reviewers and federal agencies, treatment effects extending beyond 12 months have not been demonstrated in randomized clinical trials. The primary purpose of this report was to examine the 4-year outcomes of an evidence-based treatment of substance-abusing juvenile offenders.

Method: Eighty of 118 substance-abusing juvenile offenders participated in a follow-up 4 years after taking part in a randomized clinical trial comparing multisystemic therapy (MST) with usual community services.

Children's relationships with maternal grandparents: a longitudinal study of family structure and pubertal status effects.

This longitudinal study assessed the effects of parents' marital transitions and pubertal development on grandparent-grandchild relationships. 9- to 13-year-old children, their mothers, and maternal grandparents from 186 Caucasian, middle-class families including 73 intact families, 64 mother-custody, single-parent families and 49 stepfamilies completed questionnaires focusing on the degree of children's "relationship involvement" (perceived closeness and frequency of contact) with maternal grandparents at 2 time periods 13 months apart. Children also completed questionnaires 9 months later during a third interview.

Structural complexity and the quality of stepfather-stepchild relationships.

This research examined the effects of structural complexity and sex of stepchild on the quality of stepfather-stepchild relationships. Sixteen simple stepfather families (the wife had custody of a child from a previous marriage, but the stepfather has no biological children) and 16 complex stepfather families (the wife had custody of a child from a previous marriage, and the stepfather was a noncustodial biological parent) with half of each type (N = 8) having a male and half having a female, 9-12-year-old target child participated in a multimethod-multimeasure assessment of the stepfather-stepchild relationship. Families were recruited from marriage license records, and data collection was accomplished in a single three-and-a-half-hour home visit.