Abstract
To investigate the validity of five prevalent negative beliefs about residential placement, we followed adolescents from a residential program and a comparison group at 3-month intervals for 4 to 8 years. This residential program in the Midwest uses the Teaching-Family Model in which six to eight adolescents live in a family-style environment. The interviews included five scales reflecting youths' views about important aspects of their lives in placement: (1) Delivery of Helpful Treatment, (2) Satisfaction with Supervising Adults, (3) Isolation from Family, (4) Isolation from Friends, and (5) Sense of Personal Control. Hierarchical linear modeling allowed us to estimate group differences while controlling for developmental trends, demographic factors, and prior differences between groups. The two groups were equivalent on all scales before the study. During the following placement, however, the treatment group's ratings were significantly more positive than the comparison group on four of the five scales and approached significance on the fifth. These findings suggest that negative beliefs about life in residential placement for adolescents may not apply to all programs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrish, I. J., & Barrish, H. H. (1989).Surviving and enjoying your adolescent. Kansas City, MO: Westport Publishers.
Becker, W. C. (1971).Parents are teachers. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1987). Application of hierarchical linear models to assessing change.Psychological Bulletin, 104, 396–404.
Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992).Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Christian, W. P., Hannah, G. T., & Glahn, T. J. (Eds.) (1984). Programming effective human services. New York: Plenum Press.
Christophersen, E. R. (1988).Little people. Kansas City, MO: Westport Publishers.
Christophersen, E. R. (1990).Beyond discipline. Kansas City, MO: Westport Publishers.
Clemmer, D. (1940).The prison community. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Curry, J. F. (1991). Outcome research on residential treatment: Implications and suggested directions.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 348–357.
Daly, D. L., & Dowd, T. P. (1992). Characteristics of effective, harm-free environments for children in out-of-home care.Child Welfare, 71, 487–496.
D'Amato, G. (1969).Residential treatment for child mental health. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985).Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
Donaldson v. O'Connor, 493 F.2d. 507 (5th Cir. 1974).
Eisikovits, Z., & Guttmann, E. (1988). Moving on: Youth as transients between home and residential care. In R. W. Small & F. J. Alwon,Challenging the limits of care (pp. 179–193). Needham, MA: The Albert E. Treischman Center.
Elliott, D. S. (1980). A repertoire of impact measures. In M. W. Klein & K. S. Teilmann (Eds.),Handbook of criminal justice evaluation (pp. 507–544). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Elliott, D. S., Huizinga, D., & Ageton, S. S. (1985).Explaining delinquency and drug use. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Empey, L. T., & Stafford, M. C. (1991).American delinquency: Its meaning and construction (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Forixsen, D. L., Phillips, E. L., Baron, R. L., Coughlin, D. D., Daly, D. L., & Daly, R. B. (1978, November). The Boys Town revolution.Human Nature, pp. 54–61.
Friman, P. C., Evans, J., Larzelere, R., Williams, G., & Daly, D. L. (1993). Correspondence between child dysfunction and program intensiveness: Evidence of a continuum of care across five child mental health programs.The Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 227–233.
Goffman, E. (1961).Asylums. Garden City, NY: Anchor.
Gold, M., & Osgood, D. W. (1992).Personality and peer influence in juvenile corrections. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Hawkins, R. P., Almeida, M. C., Fabry, B., & Reitz, A. L. (1992). A scale to measure restrictiveness of living environments for troubled children and youths.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 43, 54–54.
Heckman, J. J. (1989). Causal inference and nonrandom samples.Journal of Educational Statistics, 14, 159–168.
Jessness, C. F., Allison, T., McCormick, P., Wedge, R., & Young, M. (1975).Cooperative Behavior Demonstration Project. Sacramento, CA: California Youth Authority.
Jones, R. R., Weinrott, M. R., & Howard, J. R. (1981).Impact of the Teaching Family Model on troublesome youth: Findings from the National Evaluation (NTIS Publication No. PB82-224353). Rockville, MD: National Institute of Mental Health.
Kazdin, A. E. (1985).Treatment of antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press.
Kessler, R. C., & Greenberg, D. F. (1981).Linear panel analysis: Models of quantitative change. New York: Academic Press.
Kiesler, C. A. (1982). Noninstitutionalization as potential public policy for mental patients.American Psychologist, 37, 349–360.
Kifer, R. E., Lewis, M. A., Green, D. R., & Phillips, E. L. (1974). Training pre-delinquent youths and their parents to negotiate conflict situations.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7, 357–364.
Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (1978).The hidden costs of reward. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lerman, P. (1975).Community treatment and social control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lundman, R. J. (1984).Prevention and control of juvenile delinquency. New York: Oxford University Press.
Martin, F. P., & Osgood, D. W. (1987). Autonomy as a source of pro-social influence among incarcerated adolescents.Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17, 97–107.
Martin, S. E., Sechrest, L. B., & Redner, R. (Eds.). (1981).New directions in the rehabilitation of criminal offenders. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
McEwen, C. A. (1978).Designing correctional environments for youths: Dilemmas of subculture development. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
Morales, v. Turman, 383 F.Supp. 53 (E.D. Tex. 1974).
Morganthau, T., Springen, K., Smith, V., Rosenberg, D., Beals, G., Bogert, C., Gegax, T. T., & Joseph, N. (1994, December 12). The orphanage.Newsweek, 124, 28–33.
National Institute of Mental Health. (1971).Community-based correctional procedures. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Nowicki, J., & Strickland, B. R. (1973). A Locus of Control scale for children.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 148–154.
Osgood, D. W., Gruber, E., Archer, M. A., & Newcomb, T. M. (1985). Autonomy for inmates: Counterculture of cooptation?Criminal Justice and Behavior, 12, 71–89.
Osgood, D. W., & Smith, G. (1995). Applying hierarchical linear modeling to extended longitudinal evaluations: The Boys Town follow-up study.Evaluation Review, 19, 3–38.
Patterson, G. R. (1976).Living with children. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Patterson, G. R. (1982).Coercive family processes. Eugene, OR: Castalia Publishing Co.
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. J. (1992).Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia.
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., Jones, R. R., & Conger, R. E. (1975).A social learning approach to family intervention: Families with aggressive children. Eugene, OR: Castalia.
Pecora, P. J., Whittaker, J. K., Malluccio, A. N., Barth, R. P., & Plotnick, R. D. (1992).The child welfare challenge. New York: Aldine.
Phillips, E. L., Phillips, E. A., Fixsen, D. L., & Wolf, M. M. (1974).The teaching-family handbook. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
Polsky, H. W. (1965).Cottage six: The social system of delinquent boys in residential treatment. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Robin, A. L., & Foster, S. L. (1989).Negotiating parent adolescent conflict. New York: Guilford Press.
Rogosa, D. R., Brand, D., & Zimowski, M. (1982). A growth curve approach to the measurement of change.Psychological Bulletin, 92, 726–748.
Rosenbaum, P. R., & Rubin, D. B. (1983). The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects.Biometrika, 70, 41–55.
Quay, H. C. (1977). The three faces of evaluation: What can be expected to work?Criminal Justice and Behavior, 4, 341–354.
Quay, H. C. (1986). Residential treatment. In H. C. Quay & J. S. Werry (Eds.),Psychopathological disorders of childhood (pp. 558–552). New York: John Wiley.
Schur, E. M. (1973).Radical nonintervention. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Sechrest, L., White, S. O., & Brown, E. D. (Eds.). (1979).The rehabilitation of criminal offenders: Problems and prospects. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, U.S. House of Representatives. (1990).No place to call home: Discarded children in America. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Small, R., Kennedy, K., & Bender, B. (1991). Critical issues for practice in residential treatment: The view from within.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 327–338.
Small, R. W., & Alwon, F. J. (Eds.). (1988).Challenging the limits of care. Needham, MA: The Albert E. Treischman Center.
Sykes, G. (1958).The society of captives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Teaching Family Association. (1992).Roster of affiliated sites. Morganton, NC: Teaching Family Association Certification Committee.
Thompson, R. W., Smith, G. L., Osgood, D. W., Dowd, T. P., Friman, P. C., & Daly, D. (1996). Residential care: A study of short- and long-term effects.Children and Youth Services Review, 18, 139–162.
Trieschman, A. E., & Whittaker, J. K. (Eds.) (1972).Children away from home: A sourcebook of residential treatment. Chicago: Aldine.
Trieschman, A. E., Whittaker, J. K., & Brendtro, L. K. (Eds.). (1969).The other 23 hours. Chicago: Aldine.
Wainer, H. (1989). Eelworms, bullet holes, and Ferraro, Geraldine—Some problems with statistical adjustment and some solutions.Journal of Educational Statistics, 14, 159–168.
Weisman, M. L. (1994, July). When parents are not in the best interests of the child.Atlantic Monthly, pp. 43–63.
Wells, K. W. (1991). Long-term residential treatment for children: Introduction.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 324–327.
Whittaker, J. K., Overstreet, E. J., Grasso, A., Tripodi, T., & Boylan, F. (1988). Multiple indicators of success in residential youth care and treatment.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 58, 143–147.
Wolins, M. (1974).Group care: Explorations in the powerful environment. New York: Aldine.
Wolf, M. M., Phillips, E. L., Fixsen, D. L., Braukman, C. J., Kirigin, K. A., Willner, A. G., & Schumaker, J. B. (1976). Achievement place: The Teaching-Family Model.Child Care Quarterly, 5, 92–103.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The authors acknowledge Gaylon Oswalt, Beth Chmelka, and Brian Noss for their assistance on this study and Richard Dangel, Thomas Dows, Robert Hawkins, Kathleen Lenerz, Kevin Moore, James Whittaker, and Montrose Wolf for helpful comments on this paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friman, P.C., Osgood, D.W., Smith, G. et al. A longitudinal evaluation of prevalent negative beliefs about residential placement for troubled adolescents. J Abnorm Child Psychol 24, 299–324 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01441633
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01441633