Gary B. Melton

Multisystemic therapy with violent and chronic juvenile offenders and their families: the role of treatment fidelity in successful dissemination

The effects of multisystemic therapy (MST) in treating violent and chronic juvenile offenders and their families in the absence of ongoing treatment fidelity checks were examined. Across 2 public sector mental health sites, 155 youths and their families were randomly assigned to MST versus usual juvenile justice services. Although MST improved adolescent symptomology at posttreatment and decreased incarceration by 47% at a 1.7-year follow-up, findings for decreased criminal activity were not as favorable as observed on other recent trials of MST. Analyses of parent, adolescent, and therapist reports of MST treatment adherence, however, indicated that outcomes were substantially better in cases where treatment adherence ratings were high. These results highlight the importance of maintaining treatment fidelity when disseminating complex family-based services to community settings.

Family preservation using multisystemic treatment: Long-term follow-up to a clinical trial with serious juvenile offenders

In a randomized clinical trial, multisystemic family preservation was shown to significantly reduce rates of criminal activity and incarceration in a sample of 84 serious juvenile offenders and their multi-need families. In the current study, archival records were searched for re-arrest an average of 2.4 years post-referral. Survival analysis showed that youths who received multisystemic family preservation were less likely to be re-arrested than were youths who had received usual services. Such results represent the first controlled demonstration that family preservation, when delivered via a clearly specified treatment model, has lasting effects with serious juvenile offenders. Implications for family preservation and juvenile justice research are discussed.

Children’s Competence to Consent

The question of children’s competence to give or refuse consent1 is of largely recent origin (see Chapter 9). Until the mid-sixties it was not clear that children were “persons” within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, which makes the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. Although there were several early-twentieth-century “children’s rights” cases decided by the United States Supreme Court,2 each of these could be construed as a vindication of parents’ liberty interest in childrearing as they saw fit (Melton, 1982). In none of the early cases was there a clear indication of minors’ possessing constitutionally protected fundamental liberties independent of their parents. Children were perceived as properly dependent upon their parents who possessed a “right of control” over them.3 Even though parents’ rights in this regard are limited by the fact that they are not “free … to make martyrs of their children,’4 this restriction emanated from the state’s interest in the socialization of children.5 Indeed, the Supreme Court had held that it “would hardly seem open to question” that the state could impinge on basic freedoms of minors (e.g., freedom of religion) in ways that would be clearly unconstitutional if the same restrictions were placed on adults.6 Given clear indications that both parents and the state as parens patriae 7 could exercise control over minors (see Chapter 9 for additional discussion), the question of the limits of children’s actual competence to make personal decisions was moot.

Avoiding Heterosexist Bias in Psychological Research

The authors describe various ways that heterosexist bias can occur in scientific research and suggest ways that social and behavioral scientists can avoid it. Heterosexist bias is defined as conceptualizing human experience in strictly heterosexual terms and consequently ignoring, invalidating, or derogating homosexual behaviors and sexual orientation, and lesbian, gay male, and bisexual relationships and lifestyles. The deleterious scientific, social, and ethical consequences of such biases are discussed. Questions are provided for researchers to use in evaluating how heterosexist bias might affect their own selection of research questions, sampling, operationalization of variables, data collection, protection of participants, and dissemination of results. Suggestions also are offered for reducing heterosexist bias in academic journals, in textbooks, and in colleges and universities.

Children's concepts of their rights 1

A three‐level progression of childrens concepts of their rights toward principled reasoning was proposed. It was hypothesized that children in higher school grades and of high‐SES backgrounds woul...

Multisystemic Family Preservation Therapy: Preliminary Findings from a Study of Rural and Minority Serious Adolescent Offenders.

The increase in the number of serious offenses by adolescents, particularly among minority populations, has drawn attention to these difficult-to-treat youths. This article provides preliminary findings from the Diffusion of Multisystemic Family Preservation (MFP) Services Project, which conducted work with rural African-American and White families who have a chronic or violent adolescent offender at imminent risk for incarceration. Analyses assessed the impact of multisystemic therapy on family functioning (parental monitoring, family communications, family structure, etc.) and on the problem behavior of the delinquent adolescent (conduct problems, aggression, and criminal activity). In general, the MFP group demonstrated improvements in amount of problem behavior and mother psychological distress, and in aspects of family functioning following treatment. These results generally replicate the previous successes that MFP has shown in the treatment of samples of serious juvenile offenders in urban areas.

Reforming the law : impact of child development research

When does social science research reach the legal system? What determines whether and how it is used when it gets there? To answer these questions, REFORMING THE LAW assesses the impact of research on childrens competence in decision making and also looks more generally at the effectiveness of social scientists in reaching legal decision makers. The authors give practical guidance to social scientists who wish to influence the legal system. They also provide new insights into the sociology of the law and the social sciences. Drawn from both academia and policy centers, the authors apply their backgrounds in law, psychology, and policy analysis for a rich interdisciplinary discussion of the process of legal policy making. A product of a study group sponsored by the Society for Research in Child Development, REFORMING THE LAW has special significance for child development researchers, legal policy makers, and practitioners. Readers interested in the development of child legal policy, social scientists who seek to inform the law, and anyone wishing to understand the interaction between law and social science will also find this volume an invaluable resource.

Treating children like people: a framework for research and advocacy.

Issues in child policy are often obscured by symbolic debates about the nature of child development and family life. There is a need for greater care in the identification of the interests at stake and articulation of the normative foundation for various policies and programs. The Convention on the Rights of the Child carries an implicit rights-focused agenda for social science research. Building on that agenda, this article presents topics that should be examined more closely by psychologists, and it also provides rights-grounded principles for design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of research. Although rights talk, especially the vocabulary of childrens rights, is controversial, thoughtful application of such a framework leads to consensual adoption of policies and programs that are both more rational and more humane.

Children's competency to testify

Case law and relevant psychological research on childrens competency to testify are reviewed. Memory in young children is not problematic if direct, simple questions are used. Childrens difficulty in free recall, however, may make them more subject to leading questions. There is no pronounced developmental trend in honesty, and attempts on voir dire to assess honesty are probably invalid. Of most concern is young childrens ability to form “just impression of the facts.” Even childrens limited conceptual skills may not be problematic, however, if jurors can discern the objective reality from the childs description, a point as yet unresearched. Research is also needed on the ways in which the courtroom setting affects a childs behavior.

Patterns and correlates of gun ownership among nonmetropolitan and rural middle school students.

Examined prevalence of gun ownership and the links among gun ownership, reasons for gun ownership, and antisocial behavior in a sample of nonmetropolitan and rural middle school students. Participants completed the Questionnaire for Students (Olweus, 1995) and included 6,263 students from 36 elementary and middle schools, of whom most were African American (range = 46%-95% per school). Reasons for gun ownership were strongly associated with rates of antisocial behavior. Youths who owned guns for sporting reasons reported rates of antisocial behavior that were only slightly higher than those reported by youths who did not own guns. Youths who owned guns to gain respect or to frighten others reported extremely high rates of antisocial behavior. These high-risk adolescent gun owners were likely to come from families of high-risk gun owners, associate with friends who were high-risk gun owners, and engage in high rates of bullying behavior. Findings suggest that effective violence prevention programs must target high-risk youths, address risk factors that go beyond individual settings, and address a comprehensive array of risk factors.