Randomized Controlled Trial of Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring for Prevention of Crime and Delinquency
- Conditions
- CrimeJuvenile Delinquency
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
- Registration Number
- NCT03495635
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) community-based mentoring (CBM) program for prevention of crime and delinquency/conduct problems, including risk and protective factors for these outcomes. Approximately 2,500 youth ages 10-16 will be randomly assigned to either the CBM program or an untreated control group. Study outcomes will be assessed over a 4-year period via both youth- and parent-report surveys and official records of police/court contact (e.g., arrests).
- Detailed Description
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) community-based mentoring (CBM) program for prevention of crime and delinquency/conduct problems, including risk and protective factors for these outcomes. Participants will be recruited from 16 BBBSA affiliates, which are located in different regions of the U.S. and were invited to serve as sites for the study using a random selection process. The study sample will consist of approximately 2,500 youth ages 10-16 whose parents seek services from one of the participating BBBSA affiliates during the study enrollment period and for whom consent/assent to participate in the research is obtained. Enrolled youth will be randomly assigned to participate in the CBM program (treatment group) or to a control group (no BBBSA programming during the youth's 4-year period of study participation). Youth will be assigned in a 3:1 ratio to the treatment and control groups. Youth and parents will complete survey measures both at study enrollment, prior to notification of assignment to control or treatment group, and 18 months later. Official records of police/court contact (e.g., arrests), with separate parent/guardian consent as provided at study enrollment, will be obtained both for the period preceding each youth's enrollment in the study and for a 4-year period following enrollment.
The study has 4 specific aims:
1. To determine the effects of participation in the Big Brothers Big Sisters CBM program on youth offending as measured by police/court records, i.e., person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense.
2. To determine the effects of participation in the BBBS CBM program on the likelihood of youths' involvement in delinquent behavior/conduct problems as assessed by youth and parent reports.
3. To determine the effects of BBBS CBM program participation on the likelihood of youths' involvement in substance use as assessed by self-reports of alcohol use to point of drunkenness, tobacco, or illicit drug use.
4. To determine the effects of BBBS CBM program participation on both risk and protective factors for delinquent/criminal behavior, such as aggression, depressive symptoms, association with deviant peers, self-control, and school connectedness, as assessed by youth and/or parent reports, and to explore the role of these effects in mediating effects of program participation on offending, delinquent behavior, and substance use.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 1361
Not provided
Not provided
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description BBBS Community-Based Mentoring Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Delinquency 18 months 0/1 indicator based on youth and parent report using 13 items from the Add Health Study (Bearman et al., 1997)
Substance use 18 months 0/1 indicator based on youth report of alcohol use to point of drunkenness, tobacco, or illicit drug use
Arrest 18 months 0/1 indicator based on official police/court/juvenile office records of any of the following types of offenses-person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Truancy 18 months 3-item youth-report measure (2 items from Herrera et al., 2013)
Association with deviant peers 18 months A single measure computed as the average of scores on continuous youth-report measure (Elliott et al., 1996) and one-item (0/1) parent-report indicator from Youth Risk Index (Herrera et al., 2013) after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.
Impulsivity 18 months A single measure computed as the average of scores on continuous youth- and parent-report scales (Hay \& Meldrum, 2010) after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.
Academic success 18 months 4-item measure of grades in core subjects (Herrera et al., 2013)
Parent involvement 18 months Parent-report Involvement subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)
Parental consistent discipline 18 months Parent-report Inconsistent Discipline subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)
Family relationships 18 months Parent-report General Functioning scale of the Family Assessment Device (Epstein et al., 1983)
School engagement 18 months Youth-report Behavioral Engagement subscale of the Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning Scale (Skinner et al., 2009)
Volunteering in the community 18 months Youth-report single-item (Herrera et al., 2013)
Self-esteem 18 months Youth-report Global Self-Esteem subscale of brief version of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (DuBois et al., 1996; Silverthorn et al., 2017)
School suspensions 18 months One-item (0/1) parent-report indicator from Youth Risk Index (Herrera et al., 2013)
Depressive symptoms 18 months Depressive Symptoms Pediatric Self-Report - Short Form from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) (Irwin et al., 2010). Lower scores indicate a better outcome
Conventional values 18 months Belief in the Moral Order scale of the Communities That Care Youth Survey (Arthur et al., 2002)
Parental monitoring and supervision 18 months Parent-report Poor Monitoring/Supervision subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)
Perceived social support from family members 18 months Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Family Members subscale
Perceived social support from peers 18 months Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Peers subscale
Happiness 18 months Youth-report Positive Affect Pediatric Self-Report - Short Form from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) (Forrest et al., 2017)
Grit 18 months Youth-report Grit Scale for Children (Duckworth \& Quinn, 2009)
Aggressive behavior 18 months A single measure computed as the average of scores on youth-report Aggression Scale (Orpinas \& Frankowski, 2001) and parent-report Parent's Checklist from the Fast Track Project: https://fasttrackproject.org/techrept/p/pcl/ after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.
Positive parenting 18 months Parent-report Positive Parenting subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)
Perceived social support from special person 18 months Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Significant Others subscale
Goal-setting and pursuit 18 months Parent-report Goal Orientation scale from Child Trends: https://www.childtrends.org/research/research-by-topic/positive-indicators-project/goal-orientation/
Involvement in out-of-school-time activities 18 months Parent-report (Herrera et al., 2007)
Life satisfaction 18 months Youth-report single-item measure from WHO's 2005-06 Health Behaviors in School Age Children Survey: http://filer.uib.no/psyfa/HEMIL-senteret/HBSC/2006_Mandatory_Questionnaire.pdf
Social competence 18 months Social Competencies Scale of the Youth Outcome Measures Online Toolbox (Muris, 2001)
Special interest development 18 months Youth-report (adapted from DuBois \& Keller, 2017)
Career exploration 18 months Youth-report 2 items (adapted from Herrera et al., 2011)
Self-advocacy 18 months Youth-report (Jarjoura et al., 2017)
Coping efficacy 18 months Youth-report 1 item adapted from Coping Efficacy Scale (Sandler et al., 2000)
Hopeful future expectations 18 months Youth-report abbreviated version of the Hopeful Future Expectations Scale (Bowers et al., 2012)
College exploration 18 months Youth-report 1 item (adapted from Herrera et al., 2011)
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
University of Illinois at Chicago
🇺🇸Chicago, Illinois, United States