This article explored developmental and intervention evidence relevant to iatrogenic effects in peer-group interventions. Longitudinal research revealed that "deviancy training " within adolescent friendships predicts increases in delinquency, substance use, violence, and adult maladjustment. Moreover, findings from 2 experimentally controlled intervention studies suggested that peer-group interventions increase adolescent problem behavior and negative life outcomes in adulthood, compared with control youth. The data from both experimental studies suggested that high-risk youth are particularly vulnerable to peer aggregations, compared with low-risk youth. We proposed that peer aggregation during early adolescence, under some circumstances, inadvertently reinforces problem behavior. Two developmental processes are discussed that might account for the powerful iatrogenic effects. Editor's note. Cheryl B. Travis served as action editor for this article.

Records collected during childhood and coded prior to knowledge of adult behavior provided information about the childhood homes of 201 men. Thirty years later, information about criminal behavior was collected from court records. Multiple regression and discriminant function analyses indicate that six variables describing family atmosphere during childhood--mother's selfconfidence, father's deviance, parental aggressiveness, maternal affection, parental conflict, and supervision--have an important impact on subsequent behavior.

Considerable evidence supports the hypothesis that peer relationships influence the growth of problem behavior in youth. Developmental research consistently documents the high levels of covariation between peer and youth deviance, even controlling for selection effects. Ironically, the most common public interventions for deviant youth involve segregation from mainstream peers and aggregation into settings with other deviant youth. Developmental research on peer influence suggests that desired positive effects of group interventions in education, mental health, juvenile justice, and community programming may be offset by deviant peer influences in these settings. Given the public health policy issues raised by these findings, there is a need to better understand the conditions under which these peer contagion effects are most pronounced with respect to intervention foci and context, the child's developmental level, and specific strategies for managing youth behavior in groups.

Over 500 men, half of whom had been randomly assigned to a treatment program that lasted approximately 5 years, were traced 30 years after termination of the project. Although subjective evaluations of the program by those-who received its benefits would suggest that the intervention had been helpful, comparisons between the treatment and control groups indicate that the program had negative side effects as measured by criminal behavior, death, disease, occupational status, and job satisfaction. Several possible processes are suggested in explanation of these findings.

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This review highlights the importance of recognizing the possibility for doing harm when intentions are good. It describes several examples showing that well-planned and adequately executed programs provide no guarantee for safety or efficacy. The author concludes with recommendations for scientifically credible evaluations to promote progress in the field of crime prevention.

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