Facilitating Pathways Out of Crime: The Role of Strengths in Risk Assessment and Rehabilitation among Justice-Involved Youth
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This dissertation consists of two papers examining the role of strengths in the youth justice context. Paper 1 examined the psychometric properties of a strengths measure, the Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for Violence Risk – Youth Version (SAPROF-YV). In a sample of 305 youth, exploratory factor analysis suggested the removal of four items and the resulting revised scale demonstrated good internal consistency and strong convergent validity. There was additionally evidence for a promotive effect, with the total score inversely predicting reoffending in the 3-year follow-up period. Strength factors did not provide incremental predictive validity over risk factors. A significant moderation effect revealed that strengths are protective among lower risk youths but amplify the impact of risk on recidivism among higher risk youths. Paper 2 focused on the relationship between strengths and service provision and sought to evaluate whether strengths function as specific responsivity factors as proposed by the Risk-Need- Responsivity model. Findings from a sample of 261 youth indicated that as the proportion of identified criminogenic needs met via probation-provided and -coordinated services increased, youths’ odds of reoffending decreased, for both males and females. Importantly, having more identified strengths was associated with having a higher proportion of criminogenic needs addressed during probation, lending some support to the hypothesis that strengths function as specific responsivity factors; the relationship between service-to-needs matching and reoffending was not moderated by strengths. These studies provide preliminary support for the validity and reliability of the SAPROF-YV. Given the controversial moderation findings, the use of the SAPROF-YV for enhancing recidivism risk prediction is not currently recommended; however, the findings do suggest that youth strength profiles are associated with the quality and quantity of services received over the course of probation and further research into how strengths can guide and improve services for justice-involved youth is warranted.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Sonia Finseth
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3180344847