Family Preservation Using Multisystemic Therapy: An Effective Alternative to Incarcerating Serious Juvenile Offenders

Multisystemic therapy (MST) delivered through a community mental health center was compared with usual services delivered by a Department of Youth Services in the treatment of 84 serious juvenile offenders and their multiproblem families. Offenders were assigned randomly to treatment conditions. Pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 1992-12, Vol.60 (6), p.953-961
Main Authors: Henggeler, Scott W, Melton, Gary B, Smith, Linda A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Antisocial Personality Disorder - psychology
Antisocial Personality Disorder - rehabilitation
Biological and medical sciences
Child of Impaired Parents - psychology
Counseling Techniques
Delinquency
Families
Family Counseling
Family Members
Family Preservation
Family Therapy
Family Therapy - methods
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Human
Humans
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile Delinquency - legislation & jurisprudence
Juvenile Delinquency - psychology
Juvenile Delinquency - rehabilitation
Juvenile offenders
Male
Medical sciences
Multisystemic Therapy
Preservation
Prisons
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotherapies. Psychological and clinical counseling
Recurrence
Social research
Systems Theory
Therapy
Treatments
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Summary:Multisystemic therapy (MST) delivered through a community mental health center was compared with usual services delivered by a Department of Youth Services in the treatment of 84 serious juvenile offenders and their multiproblem families. Offenders were assigned randomly to treatment conditions. Pretreatment and posttreatment assessment batteries evaluating family relations, peer relations, symptomatology, social competence, and self-reported delinquency were completed by the youth and a parent, and archival records were searched at 59 weeks postreferral to obtain data on rearrest and incarceration. In comparison with youths who received usual services, youths who received MST had fewer arrests and self-reported offenses and spent an average of 10 fewer weeks incarcerated. In addition, families in the MST condition reported increased family cohesion and decreased youth aggression in peer relations. The relative effectiveness of MST was neither moderated by demographic characteristics nor mediated by psychosocial variables.
ISSN:0022-006X
1939-2117
DOI:10.1037/0022-006X.60.6.953