Sonja E. Siennick’s research while affiliated with Florida State University and other places

Concerns have been raised that cross-agency differences in the definition and measurement of juvenile recidivism may hamper the generalizability of knowledge and comparisons across jurisdictions. However, it is unclear whether measurement choices do impact the conclusions of studies of juvenile recidivism. This study examined whether the rates and the demographic, risk, and contextual predictors of juvenile recidivism varied by the operationalization of recidivism. The sample included 14,537 terms of probation of youths who completed probation in Florida between 2012 and 2016. Recidivism rates differed depending on the type of system contact and the follow-up length. Rates were comparable when adult system data were and were not included. Three-level multivariate multilevel models showed that the predictors were more strongly associated with commitment than with referral or adjudication. The directions and significance of the predictors’ effects were consistent across types of system contact, follow-up lengths, and data sources. Researchers should use varied measurement strategies, clearly describe their approach, and test for robustness across measures.

This volume presents an overview and summary of findings from the PROSPER (Promoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) Peers project, which for over a decade has sought to illuminate how adolescent friendship networks channel and facilitate the spread of developmental outcomes such as substance use, other risky behaviors, mental health problems, and educational success. In addition, it has probed the role of friendship networks in extending the impact of school and family-based prevention programs aimed at reducing substance misuse and improving adolescents’ futures. The chapters here integrate results from PROSPER Peers’ more than 50 publications along with new analyses and findings. This work was made possible by tracking the friendship networks and behaviors of thousands of students in 27 Iowa and Pennsylvania communities across middle and high school. The volume concludes with discussions by colleagues who were not involved in PROSPER Peers, and a concluding chapter focuses on the implications of this work for social capital during adolescence.

This volume presents an overview and summary of findings from the PROSPER (Promoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) Peers project, which for over a decade has sought to illuminate how adolescent friendship networks channel and facilitate the spread of developmental outcomes such as substance use, other risky behaviors, mental health problems, and educational success. In addition, it has probed the role of friendship networks in extending the impact of school and family-based prevention programs aimed at reducing substance misuse and improving adolescents’ futures. The chapters here integrate results from PROSPER Peers’ more than 50 publications along with new analyses and findings. This work was made possible by tracking the friendship networks and behaviors of thousands of students in 27 Iowa and Pennsylvania communities across middle and high school. The volume concludes with discussions by colleagues who were not involved in PROSPER Peers, and a concluding chapter focuses on the implications of this work for social capital during adolescence.

Introduction: Incarcerated individuals experience increased health problems, presenting additional challenges as they leave prison and re-enter the community. These challenges are disproportionally experienced by racial and ethnic minorities. Despite these trends, little is known regarding the availability of medical services within the communities to which incarcerated individuals return. Methods: We examined all prison returns in the state of Florida between 2008 and 2017. We examined the odds of returning from prison to a community that is formally designated as medically underserved by the Health Resources and Services Administration. We also examined whether Florida communities with a greater proportion of racial and ethnic minority returns were more likely to be designated as medically underserved. Results: Overall, each SD increase in community return rate resulted in a 20% increase in the odds of medical underservice designation. For each SD increase in the proportion of black and Latino returns, the odds of medical underservice designation increased by 50% and 14%, respectively, compared with the proportion of white returns. Discussion: Within Florida, previously incarcerated individuals are more likely to return to communities with limited availability of medical services. These findings are even more pronounced for communities with more black returnees. Previously incarcerated individuals are more likely to return to communities that lack the medical infrastructure required to address their unique healthcare needs, potentially leading to worsened health, and increased racial and ethnic health disparities.

Internalizing symptoms have been linked to bullying perpetration and victimization in adolescence. However, the directions of any causal relationships remain unclear, and limited research has identified the mechanisms that explain the associations. Given the salience of peer relationships during the teenage years, we examine whether perceived support from friends is one such mechanism. By using a transactional framework and four waves of longitudinal panel data on over 900 youth, we test both cross-lagged and indirect associations between bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, internalizing symptoms, and perceived friend support. Our method represents one of the most rigorous tests to date of the mutual influences among these factors. The results show that internalizing symptoms and perceived friend support were reciprocally linked to bullying victimization, but perceived support did not predict internalizing symptoms, and bullying perpetration neither preceded nor followed perceived support or internalizing symptoms. There were no significant indirect paths between bullying involvement and internalizing symptoms through perceived friend support. The results provide only partial support for a transactional model in which bullying victimization, support, and internalizing symptoms are reciprocally related. The implications of these findings for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.

Victimization can harm youth in various ways and negatively affect their friendships with peers. Nevertheless, not all victimized youth are impacted similarly, and the literature is unclear regarding why some victims are more likely than others to experience friendship-based consequences. Using five waves of data on 901 adolescents (6th grade at wave 1; 47% male; 88% White) and a subsample of 492 victimized youth, this study assessed (1) whether victimization leads to decreases in perceived friend support, and (2) the factors that explain which victimized youth are most likely to experience decreases in perceived friend support. Explanatory factors included subsequent victimization, victims’ social network status (self-reported number of friends, number of friendship nominations received), and victims’ risky behaviors (affiliating with deviant friends, delinquency, aggression, binge drinking). Random effects regressions revealed that, among the full sample, victimization was linked to decreases in friend support. Among victimized youth, subsequent victimization and deviant friends decreased friend support. Having more friends was associated with increased friend support among victims, though this association weakened as the number of friends increased. The results emphasize that victimized youth are a heterogeneous group with varying risks of experiencing friendship-based consequences.

There is conflicting evidence on whether people, particularly those with preexisting mental health problems, have worse mental health during and after extended solitary confinement (SC) stays. Using administrative data on 843 men, we examined within-person changes in mental health functioning and service use surrounding long-term stays in SC in Florida correctional facilities. During these stays, service use increased, psychological functioning improved, and mental health crises declined. The former two associations persisted during step-down placements in lower levels of restrictive housing and during the month following restrictive housing stays. The same associations were observed among men with and without serious mental illnesses, though they were more muted among the former group. The increased provision of treatment might prevent mental health problems from developing or worsening among those held in long-term SC and might even improve psychological functioning relative to when the same people are in general population housing.

The purpose of this study was to compare the predictive strength of a previously validated risk score across seven different operationalizations of juvenile recidivism. Drawing on data from the Florida portion of the Measuring Juvenile Reoffending Study, the study examines two research questions. First, do recidivism risk scores significantly predict a variety of measures of juvenile recidivism? And second, do risk scores exert statistically different effects on different measures of juvenile recidivism? The findings revealed that risk score significantly predicted all seven measures of juvenile recidivism. In addition, the only evidence of statistically different associations across measures of recidivism came from marker event (i.e., types of system contact) comparisons. Total risk score was a significantly stronger predictor of referral/arrest than of adjudication/conviction and a stronger predictor of adjudication/conviction than of commitment/incarceration. Altogether, our results highlight the importance of validating risk assessment scores on multiple different operationalizations of juvenile recidivism.

Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers have called for greater uniformity in state juvenile justice systems’ operationalizations of juvenile recidivism. Yet the last censuses of these measurement strategies found that states’ measures varied widely and generally did not conform to recommended best practices. The current study combined reviews of state publications and statutes with communications with juvenile justice agency representatives to create an updated accounting of current measurement practices. Now, nearly one-third of states have adopted the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators best practices for operationalizing juvenile recidivism. In addition, most states now track youth into the adult criminal justice system. There remains wide variation in the type of system contact assessed and the follow-up period used. Continued improvements in measurement will enable stakeholders to make better comparisons across systems, programs, and states.