Linking Identification and Treatment of Early Risk Factors for Female Delinquency

Abstract

Increasing concern about how young girls are growing up is reflected in the scientific focus on the negative trajectories of girls (e.g., Côt¨¦, Zoccolillo, Tremblay, Nagin, & Vitaro, 2001; Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001), and in the media attention they are receiving (Nebenzahl, 2001). The latter has largely been fueled by dramatic and tragic events that have involved girls in their early teens such as the brutal death of Reena Virk (Taffler, 1998). Correspondingly, there has been a push for answers to questions about the current state of affairs regarding incidence, onset, gender-related risk factors, and effective interventions associated with girlhood aggression. Little is known about treatment with regard to whether the same interven-tions apply to boys and girls and whether there is sufficient evidence to support a call for the widespread introduction of separate, gender-specific interventions. We have few answers to these questions, and the ones that we have suggest a challenging complexity. In this chapter we discuss two gender-specific initiatives that have been implemented at Earlscourt Child and Family Centre (ECFC), a family focused treatment centre for children under the age of 12 exhibiting serious aggressive and antisocial behaviors. These converging initiatives consist of a risk assessment device developed to augment and refine our understanding of the developmental pathways of aggressive and antisocial young girls and a gender-specific treatment program.