Collaborative Proposal: Adolescent Social Development During Incarceration

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

Juvenile incarceration removes young people from their homes, schools, and communities during a period of substantial social development. Incarceration not only isolates adolescents from typical sources of socialization (e.g., family, friends, mentors, teachers, coaches) and increases exposure to antisocial influences (e.g., fellow inmates), but also reduces adolescents' opportunities to engage in traditional social interactions. This research examines the effects of juvenile incarceration on adolescents' social development and social relationship quality. Further, the study will explore potential ripple effects that such disruptions to social functioning may have on adolescents' mental health and future offending. The information garnered from this study may inform changes to juvenile justice policies and juvenile incarceration practices to reduce negative effects of incarceration on social development. This project consists of a longitudinal study of approximately 300 adolescents (13-17 years) across a period of two years. This sample will consist of three distinct groups of adolescents: 1) incarcerated adolescents, 2) adjudicated adolescents sentenced to community probation, and 3) community adolescents with no prior arrests. Participants will be statistically matched across the three groups on variables associated with incarceration (e.g., age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, prior behavior) to allow for inferences to be made about group-level differences in social development, relationship quality, mental health symptoms, and offending behavior, controlling for pre-existing differences on matched constructs. Participants will complete 7 structured interviews and five weeks of daily diary assessments about their social competence, social relationships, mental health symptoms, and criminal offending behavior. Official records of subsequent offending will also be provided for all justice-involved participants. The proposed research is the first study of its kind to directly disentangle the potential effects of juvenile incarceration on adolescent social development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.