2008 · Study · English
Early Effects of Communities That Care on Targeted Risks and Initiation of Delinquent Behavior and Substance Use
Hawkins, J. D., Brown, E. C., Oesterle, S., Arthur, M. W., Abbott, R. D., & Catalano, R. F.
Hawkins, J. D., Brown, E. C., Oesterle, S., Arthur, M. W., Abbott, R. D., & Catalano, R. F. (2008). Early Effects of Communities That Care on Targeted Risks and Initiation of Delinquent Behavior and Substance Use. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43(1), 15–22. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.01.022
Summary
First outcome paper from the Community Youth Development Study, the group-randomised trial of Communities That Care in 12 matched pairs of US communities. A panel of 4,407 pupils was surveyed annually from Grade 5 to Grade 7, so that effects could be assessed 1.67 years after the CTC-selected programmes had begun. In Grade 7, mean levels of the risk factors the communities had chosen to target were significantly lower in CTC communities than in controls, and significantly fewer pupils had initiated delinquent behaviour between Grades 5 and 7. There was no significant effect on the initiation of substance use by spring of Grade 7. The authors read this pattern as consistent with the CTC theory of change, which expects effects on risk factors after two to five years and on behaviour after five or more; for European sites it sets realistic expectations about when effects should appear.