The Effects of a Probation Intervention on Juvenile Offenders' Self-Concepts, Loci of Control, and Perceptions of Juvenile Justice

Abstract

This article examines the impact of job preparation, short-term outdoor adventure, and family relationships programming on juvenile probationers' self-concepts, loci of control (internal versus external), and perceptions of juvenile justice. Traditional probation services constitute the standard for comparison. After establishing the rationale for selection of the three dependent variables and describing how the intervention addressed these variables, the authors present data derived from a two-factor experimental pretest-posttest design. Results indicate that the intervention did not achieve its intended effects, as measured by self-report scales. This outcome is discussed in relation to program design and evaluation.

Review: A systematic review of the impact of physical activity programmes on social and emotional well‐being in at‐risk youth

“…Our search identified 15 studies that evaluated the effects of physical activity programmes on social and emotional well-being in at-risk children and adolescents (Table 1). Seven studies evaluated the effects of outdoor adventure programmes (Bloemhoff, 2006;Cross, 2002;Green, Kleiber, & Tarrant, 2000;Kaiser, Smith, Heleski, & Spence, 2006;Minor & Elrod, 1994;Pommier & Witt, 1995;Wu & Hsieh, 2006), seven studies evaluated the effects of sport and skill-based interventions (Basile, Motta, & Allison, 1995;Bonnette, McBride, & Tolson, 2001;Goodway & Rudisill, 1996;Maiano, Ninot, Morin, & Bilard, 2007;Palermo et al, 2006;Robinson et al, 2009;Tester, Watkins, & Rouse, 1999) and two studies reported the effects of physical fitness programmes (Basile et al, 1995;Collingwood, Sunderlin, & Kohl, 1994). The majority of studies evaluated the effects of programmes among older children and adolescents, however, two studies (Goodway & Rudisill, 1996;Robinson et al, 2009) reported the effects of motor skill interventions in at-risk preschool children.…”

“…Few studies provided stratified baseline characteristics and four studies did not include a control group or comparison group (Collingwood et al, 1994;Kaiser et al, 2006;Tester et al, 1999;Wu & Hsieh, 2006). Although a number of studies were randomised controlled trials (Basile et al, 1995;Goodway & Rudisill, 1996;Minor & Elrod, 1994;Palermo et al, 2006), only one study described the process of randomisation (Basile et al, 1995). Six studies used quasi-experimental designs (Bloemhoff, 2006;Bonnette et al, 2001;Cross, 2002;Green et al, 2000;Maiano et al, 2007;Robinson et al, 2009).…”

“…These findings should be treated with some caution, as three of the studies involved quasi-experiments with matched comparison groups (Bloemhoff, 2006;Cross, 2002;Green et al, 2000) and one of the interventions (Wu & Hsieh, 2006). Two programmes did not improve social and emotional well-being (Kaiser et al, 2006;Minor & Elrod, 1994). The duration of the adventure programmes ranged from 4 hours (Bloemhoff, 2006) to 3 months (Minor & Elrod, 1994).…”

“…Two programmes did not improve social and emotional well-being (Kaiser et al, 2006;Minor & Elrod, 1994). The duration of the adventure programmes ranged from 4 hours (Bloemhoff, 2006) to 3 months (Minor & Elrod, 1994). The adventure programmes included a range of activities including rock climbing, ropes courses, horse riding, orienteering, sailing and canoeing.…”

“…The adventure programmes included a range of activities including rock climbing, ropes courses, horse riding, orienteering, sailing and canoeing. Two of the courses included family training components to support positive family relationships (Minor & Elrod, 1994;Pommier & Witt, 1995).…”