Jessica Saunders

Psychiatric Symptoms in Bereaved Versus Nonbereaved Youth and Young Adults: A Longitudinal Epidemiological Study

OBJECTIVE To examine potential differences in psychiatric symptoms between parent-bereaved youth (N = 172), youth who experienced the death of another relative (N = 815), and nonbereaved youth (N = 235), aged 11 to 21 years, above and beyond antecedent environmental and individual risk factors. METHOD Sociodemographics, family composition, and family functioning were assessed one interview wave before the death. Child psychiatric symptoms were assessed during the wave in which the death was reported and one wave before and after the death. A year was selected randomly for the nonbereaved group. RESULTS The early loss of a parent was associated with poverty, previous substance abuse problems, and greater functional impairment before the loss. Both bereaved groups of children were more likely than nonbereaved children to show symptoms of separation anxiety and depression during the wave of the death, controlling for sociodemographic factors and prior psychiatric symptoms. One wave following the loss, bereaved children were more likely than nonbereaved children to exhibit symptoms of conduct disorder and substance abuse and to show greater functional impairment. CONCLUSIONS The impact of parental death on children must be considered in the context of pre-existing risk factors. Even after controlling for antecedent risk factors, both parent-bereaved children as well as those who lost other relatives were at increased risk for psychological and behavioral health problems.

Are Immigrant Youth Less Violent? Specifying the Reasons and Mechanisms

In this article, the authors present an overview of the relationship between immigrant households and crime and violence, drawing on sociological and public health literature. They present a critique of popular culture perspectives on immigrant families and youth violence, showing that crime and violence outcomes are if anything better for youth in immigrant families than one would expect given the social disadvantages that many immigrant households find themselves living in. They examine the extent to which exposure to violence among immigrant youth is comparably lower than among nonimmigrants living in similar social contexts and the extent to which social control and social learning frameworks can account for the apparent lower prevalence of violence exposure among immigrant youth. Their analyses show a persistent lower rate of violence exposure for immigrant youth compared to similarly situated nonimmigrant youth—and that these differences are not meaningfully understood by observed social control or social learning mechanisms. The authors focus then on the apparent paradox of why youth living in immigrant households in relative disadvantage have lower violence exposure compared to nonimmigrants living in similar social contexts. The answers, they argue, can be viewed from an examination of the effects that living in poverty and underclass neighborhoods for generations has on nonimmigrants in American cities.

Exploring Inmate Reentry in a Local Jail Setting Implications for Outreach, Service Use, and Recidivism

Although prisoner reentry has taken center stage in correctional research and policy discussions, there has been little emphasis on reentry among jail populations. This paper examines a jail-based reentry program in New York City that begins while individuals are incarcerated and includes 90 days of postrelease services. This article explores these assumptions through an evaluation of a jail-based reentry program in New York City that begins while individuals are incarcerated and includes 90 days of postrelease services. To determine program impact, the authors compare samples of participants with nonparticipants and program completers with noncompleters. The groups are matched using developmental trajectories derived from group-based trajectory modeling, in addition to propensity score matching. Findings show that participants perform no better than nonparticipants over a 1-year follow-up, but those who stay engaged for at least 90 days of postrelease services experience significantly fewer (and slower) returns to jail. The findings regarding program completion are tempered by several methodological concerns, however. The article concludes with a discussion of how the study may offer insights for program implementation and operation with this target population.

How Effective Is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go from Here? The Results of a Comprehensive Evaluation.

More than two million adults are incarcerated in US prisons, and each year more than 700,000 leave federal and state prisons and return to communities. Unfortunately, within three years, 40 per cent will be reincarcerated. One reason for this is that ex-offenders lack the knowledge, training, and skills to support a successful return to communities. Trying to reduce such high recidivism rates is partly why states devote resources to educating and training individuals in prison. This raises the question of how effective - and cost-effective - correctional education is - an even more salient question given the funding environment states face from the 2008 recession and its continuing aftermath. The RAND team conducted a systematic review of correctional education programs for incarcerated adults and juveniles. This included a meta-analysis on correctional educations effects on recidivism and post-release employment outcomes for incarcerated adults, as well as a synthesis of evidence on programs for juveniles. The study also included a nationwide survey of state correctional education directors to understand how correctional education is provided today and the recessions impact. The authors also compared the direct costs of correctional education with those of reincarceration to put the recidivism findings into a broader context.

A Framework for Synthetic Control Methods With High-Dimensional, Micro-Level Data: Evaluating a Neighborhood-Specific Crime Intervention

ABSTRACT The synthetic control method is an increasingly popular tool for analysis of program efficacy. Here, it is applied to a neighborhood-specific crime intervention in Roanoke, VA, and several novel contributions are made to the synthetic control toolkit. We examine high-dimensional data at a granular level (the treated area has several cases, a large number of untreated comparison cases, and multiple outcome measures). Calibration is used to develop weights that exactly match the synthetic control to the treated region across several outcomes and time periods. Further, we illustrate the importance of adjusting the estimated effect of treatment for the design effect implicit within the weights. A permutation procedure is proposed wherein countless placebo areas can be constructed, enabling estimation of p-values under a robust set of assumptions. An omnibus statistic is introduced that is used to jointly test for the presence of an intervention effect across multiple outcomes and post-intervention time periods. Analyses indicate that the Roanoke crime intervention did decrease crime levels, but the estimated effect of the intervention is not as statistically significant as it would have been had less rigorous approaches been used. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Understanding random effects in group-based trajectory modeling: an application of Moffitt's developmental taxonomy

The group-based trajectory modeling approach is a systematic way of categorizing subjects into different groups based on their developmental trajectories using formal and objective statistical criteria. With the recent advancement in methods and statistical software, modeling possibilities are almost limitless; however, parallel advances in theory development have not kept pace. This paper examines some of the modeling options that are becoming more widespread and how they impact both empirical and theoretical findings. The key issue that is explored is the impact of adding random effects to the latent growth factors and how this alters the meaning of a group. The paper argues that technical specification should be guided by theory, and Moffitts developmental taxonomy is used as an illustration of how modeling decisions can be matched to theory.

Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

Research Summary In 2012, the editors of CPP published an exchange about the Drug Market Intervention (DMI) in High Point, NC, concluding that it may be a promising approach to crime control but questioning whether it could be implemented across different settings. In this effectiveness study, we followed a cohort of seven sites that participated in a Bureau of Justice Assistance–sponsored DMI training to assess implementation and outcomes. Three sites were not able to implement, and implementation fidelity varied across the four sites that did implement. Of the four sites that held at least one call-in, only one was successful at reducing overall and drug crime (by 28% and 56%, respectively). This works out to an implementation rate of 57% with an average overall crime reduction of 16% (treatment-on-the-treated) or 4% (intent-to-treat). The results of this study demonstrate the importance of replication and the careful study of implementation fidelity prior to wide dissemination. Policy Implications When the findings of an evaluation reveal an effective crime reduction program, particularly when it garners significant public attention, it is not uncommon to rush to judgment that it should be widely implemented. DMI is a perfect illustration of this shortsighted approach to evidence-based crime prevention—multiple trials across a variety of contexts are necessary to understand whether a program is ready for broad dissemination and scale-up. The DMI program was challenging for sites to implement and resulted in significant reductions in crime in the site with the implementation fidelity that was highest and most similar to the original site. Our findings echo earlier concerns that the approach may be less effective across diverse settings and illustrate why effectiveness studies are vital in the development of evidence-based policy.

A Community-Based, Focused-Deterrence Approach to Closing Overt Drug Markets: A Process and Fidelity Evaluation of Seven Sites

Overt drug markets are often associated with violence and property crime, as well as lower quality of life for nearby residents. This process evaluation describes how well seven jurisdictions adhered to a Bureau of Justice Assistance strategy to reduce overt drug markets, as well as the barriers they encountered and the lessons learned from their experiences.

Exploring the differences between pet and non-pet owners: Implications for human-animal interaction research and policy

There is conflicting evidence about whether living with pets results in better mental and physical health outcomes, with the majority of the empirical research evidence being inconclusive due to methodological limitations. We briefly review the research evidence, including the hypothesized mechanisms through which pet ownership may influence health outcomes. This study examines how pet and non-pet owners differ across a variety of socio-demographic and health measures, which has implications for the proper interpretation of a large number of correlational studies that attempt to draw causal attributions. We use a large, population-based survey from California administered in 2003 (n = 42,044) and find that pet owners and non-pet owners differ across many traits, including gender, age, race/ethnicity, living arrangements, and income. We include a discussion about how the factors associated with the selection into the pet ownership group are related to a range of mental and physical health outcomes. Finally, we provide guidance on how to properly model the effects of pet ownership on health to accurately estimate this relationship in the general population.

A Propensity-Score-Weighted Population-Based Study of the Health Benefits of Dogs and Cats for Children

ABSTRACT There is a widely held belief that children’s general and psychological health benefits from owning and/or interacting with pets. In our study, we aimed to determine whether children who live with a dog or cat in their home have better mental and physical health outcomes compared with children without such a pet. Our study design consisted of a secondary analysis of household survey data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey. Children in pet-owning households (n = 2,236 households with a dog or cat) were compared with children in non-pet owning households (n = 2,955 house-holds) using a weighted propensity score regression approach. Double robust regression analyses were used to examine the association between living with a dog or cat and health outcomes, while accounting for confounding factors. Our results demonstrated strong confounding effects. Unadjusted analyses found that children in pet-owning households were significantly healthier than children in non-owning households in terms of, for example, better general health, higher activity level, and less concern from parents regarding mood, behavior, and learning ability. However, when estimates were adjusted using the double robust approach, the effects were smaller and no longer statistically significant. The results indicate that the benefits of owning pets observed in this study were largely explained by confounding factors.