Randomized Controlled Trial of Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring for Prevention of Crime and Delinquency

Crime Clinical Trial

Official title:

Randomized Controlled Trial of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program for Prevention of Crime and Juvenile Delinquency

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03495635
• Other study ID #: 2017-0291
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 2, 2018
• Est. completion date: June 30, 2024

Study information

• Verified date: March 2024
• Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) community-based mentoring (CBM) program for prevention of crime and delinquency/conduct problems, including risk and protective factors for these outcomes. Approximately 2,500 youth ages 10-16 will be randomly assigned to either the CBM program or an untreated control group. Study outcomes will be assessed over a 4-year period via both youth- and parent-report surveys and official records of police/court contact (e.g., arrests).

Description:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) community-based mentoring (CBM) program for prevention of crime and delinquency/conduct problems, including risk and protective factors for these outcomes. Participants will be recruited from 16 BBBSA affiliates, which are located in different regions of the U.S. and were invited to serve as sites for the study using a random selection process. The study sample will consist of approximately 2,500 youth ages 10-16 whose parents seek services from one of the participating BBBSA affiliates during the study enrollment period and for whom consent/assent to participate in the research is obtained. Enrolled youth will be randomly assigned to participate in the CBM program (treatment group) or to a control group (no BBBSA programming during the youth's 4-year period of study participation). Youth will be assigned in a 3:1 ratio to the treatment and control groups. Youth and parents will complete survey measures both at study enrollment, prior to notification of assignment to control or treatment group, and 18 months later. Official records of police/court contact (e.g., arrests), with separate parent/guardian consent as provided at study enrollment, will be obtained both for the period preceding each youth's enrollment in the study and for a 4-year period following enrollment.

The study has 4 specific aims:

1. To determine the effects of participation in the Big Brothers Big Sisters CBM program on youth offending as measured by police/court records, i.e., person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense.

2. To determine the effects of participation in the BBBS CBM program on the likelihood of youths' involvement in delinquent behavior/conduct problems as assessed by youth and parent reports.

3. To determine the effects of BBBS CBM program participation on the likelihood of youths' involvement in substance use as assessed by self-reports of alcohol use to point of drunkenness, tobacco, or illicit drug use.

4. To determine the effects of BBBS CBM program participation on both risk and protective factors for delinquent/criminal behavior, such as aggression, depressive symptoms, association with deviant peers, self-control, and school connectedness, as assessed by youth and/or parent reports, and to explore the role of these effects in mediating effects of program participation on offending, delinquent behavior, and substance use.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 1361
• Est. completion date: June 30, 2024
• Est. primary completion date: June 30, 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 10 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion criteria:

• youth is 10 years of age or older

• youth is likely to be eligible for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring program as determined by initial assessment of program staff

Exclusion criteria:

• youth has a severe learning, cognitive or other intellectual disability as reported by the parent

• parent does not both speak and read either English or Spanish

• youth does not have a sibling who is already a study participant

• youth has been matched with a Big Brother/Sister through one of the affiliate's programs in the past

• youth has a sibling currently receiving services from the affiliate for whom services were initiated (i.e., inquiry was made) prior to start of the study

• youth belongs to a group that the affiliate is excluding from study participation based on previous agreement with the research team

• youth is designated as an exception case by affiliate staff (each affiliate will have the opportunity to exclude up to 4% of study-eligible youth from the research prior to consent and random assignment for any reason deemed appropriate (e.g., perceived high need of the youth))

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Crime
• Juvenile Delinquency

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
One-to-one mentoring provided by an adult volunteer with training and ongoing monitoring and support from program staff.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Illinois at Chicago	Chicago	Illinois

Sponsors (5)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Illinois at Chicago	Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Herrera Consulting Group, LLC, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (20)

Arthur MW, Hawkins JD, Pollard JA, Catalano RF, Baglioni AJ Jr. Measuring risk and protective factors for substance use, delinquency, and other adolescent problem behaviors. The Communities That Care Youth Survey. Eval Rev. 2002 Dec;26(6):575-601. doi: 10.1177/0193841X0202600601. — View Citation

Bearman, P. S., Jones, J., & Udry, J. R. (1997). The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research design. Retrieved from http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth.

Bowers, E. P., Geldhof, G. J., Schmid, K. L., Napolitano, C. M., Minor, K., & Lerner, J. V. (2012). Relationships with important nonparental adults and positive youth development: An examination of youth self-regulatory strengths as mediators. Research in Human Development, 9, 298-316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2012.729911

DuBois DL, Keller TE. Investigation of the Integration of Supports for Youth Thriving Into a Community-Based Mentoring Program. Child Dev. 2017 Sep;88(5):1480-1491. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12887. Epub 2017 Jun 19. — View Citation

DuBois, D. L., Felner, R. D., Brand, S., Phillips, R. S. C., & Lease, A. M. (1996). Early adolescent self-esteem: A developmental-ecological framework and assessment strategy. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6, 543-579.

Duckworth AL, Quinn PD. Development and validation of the short grit scale (grit-s). J Pers Assess. 2009 Mar;91(2):166-74. doi: 10.1080/00223890802634290. — View Citation

Elliott, D. S., Wilson, W. J., Huizinga, D., Sampson, R. J., Elliott, A., & Rankin, B. (1996). The effects of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent development. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 33, 389. doi:10.1177=0022427896033004002

Epstein, N. B., Baldwin, L. M., & Bishop, D. S. (1983). The McMaster Family Assessment Device. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9, 171-180.

Essau, C. A., Sasagawa, S., & Frick, P. J. (2006). Psychometric properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 597-616.

Forrest CB, Ravens-Sieberer U, Devine J, Becker BD, Teneralli R, Moon J, Carle A, Tucker CA, Bevans KB. Development and Evaluation of the PROMIS(R) Pediatric Positive Affect Item Bank, Child-Report and Parent-Proxy Editions. J Happiness Stud. 2018 Mar;19(3):699-718. doi: 10.1007/s10902-016-9843-9. Epub 2017 Jan 21. — View Citation

Herrera C, Grossman JB, Kauh TJ, McMaken J. Mentoring in schools: an impact study of big brothers big sisters school-based mentoring. Child Dev. 2011 Jan-Feb;82(1):346-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01559.x. — View Citation

Herrera, C., Linden, L. L., Arbreton, J. A. & Grossman, J. B. (2011). Testing the impact of Higher Achievement's year-round out-of-school-time program on academic outcomes. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.

Irwin DE, Stucky B, Langer MM, Thissen D, Dewitt EM, Lai JS, Varni JW, Yeatts K, DeWalt DA. An item response analysis of the pediatric PROMIS anxiety and depressive symptoms scales. Qual Life Res. 2010 May;19(4):595-607. doi: 10.1007/s11136-010-9619-3. Epub 2010 Mar 7. — View Citation

Jarjoura, G. R. et al. (2017). The Evaluation of The Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research. Manuscript in preparation.

Muris, P. (2001). A brief questionnaire for measuring self-efficacy in youths. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 145-149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1010961119608

Orpinas P, & Frankowski R. (2001). The aggression scale: a self-report measure of aggressive behavior for young adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 21, 51-68.

Sandler IN, Tein JY, Mehta P, Wolchik S, Ayers T. Coping efficacy and psychological problems of children of divorce. Child Dev. 2000 Jul-Aug;71(4):1099-118. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00212. — View Citation

Silverthorn, N., DuBois, D. L., Lewis, K. M., Reed, A., Bavarian, N., Day, J., . . . Flay, B. R. (2017). Effects of a school-based social-emotional and character development program on self-esteem levels and processes: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. SAGE Open, 7(3), 1-12. doi:10.1177/2158244017713238

Skinner, E. A., Kindermann, T. A., & Furrer, C. J. (2009). A motivational perspective on engagement and disaffection: Conceptualization and assessment of children's behavioral and emotional participation in academic activities in the classroom. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69, 493-525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013164408323233

Zimet, G. D., Dahlem, N. W., Zimet, S. G., & Farley, G. K. (1988). The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 30-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5201_2

* Note: There are 20 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Arrest	0/1 indicator based on official police/court/juvenile office records of any of the following types of offenses-person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense	4 years
Primary	Arrest	0/1 indicator based on official police/court/juvenile office records of any of the following types of offenses-person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense	18 months
Primary	Delinquency	0/1 indicator based on youth and parent report using 13 items from the Add Health Study (Bearman et al., 1997)	18 months
Primary	Substance use	0/1 indicator based on youth report of alcohol use to point of drunkenness, tobacco, or illicit drug use	18 months
Secondary	Truancy	3-item youth-report measure (2 items from Herrera et al., 2013)	18 months
Secondary	Association with deviant peers	A single measure computed as the average of scores on continuous youth-report measure (Elliott et al., 1996) and one-item (0/1) parent-report indicator from Youth Risk Index (Herrera et al., 2013) after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.	18 months
Secondary	School suspensions	One-item (0/1) parent-report indicator from Youth Risk Index (Herrera et al., 2013)	18 months
Secondary	Depressive symptoms	Depressive Symptoms Pediatric Self-Report - Short Form from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) (Irwin et al., 2010). Lower scores indicate a better outcome	18 months
Secondary	Impulsivity	A single measure computed as the average of scores on continuous youth- and parent-report scales (Hay & Meldrum, 2010) after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.	18 months
Secondary	Conventional values	Belief in the Moral Order scale of the Communities That Care Youth Survey (Arthur et al., 2002)	18 months
Secondary	Aggressive behavior	A single measure computed as the average of scores on youth-report Aggression Scale (Orpinas & Frankowski, 2001) and parent-report Parent's Checklist from the Fast Track Project: https://fasttrackproject.org/techrept/p/pcl/ after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.	18 months
Secondary	Academic success	4-item measure of grades in core subjects (Herrera et al., 2013)	18 months
Secondary	Positive parenting	Parent-report Positive Parenting subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)	18 months
Secondary	Parent involvement	Parent-report Involvement subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)	18 months
Secondary	Parental monitoring and supervision	Parent-report Poor Monitoring/Supervision subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)	18 months
Secondary	Parental consistent discipline	Parent-report Inconsistent Discipline subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)	18 months
Secondary	Family relationships	Parent-report General Functioning scale of the Family Assessment Device (Epstein et al., 1983)	18 months
Secondary	Perceived social support from family members	Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Family Members subscale	18 months
Secondary	Perceived social support from peers	Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Peers subscale	18 months
Secondary	Perceived social support from special person	Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Significant Others subscale	18 months
Secondary	School engagement	Youth-report Behavioral Engagement subscale of the Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning Scale (Skinner et al., 2009)	18 months
Secondary	Goal-setting and pursuit	Parent-report Goal Orientation scale from Child Trends: https://www.childtrends.org/research/research-by-topic/positive-indicators-project/goal-orientation/	18 months
Secondary	Involvement in out-of-school-time activities	Parent-report (Herrera et al., 2007)	18 months
Secondary	Volunteering in the community	Youth-report single-item (Herrera et al., 2013)	18 months
Secondary	Life satisfaction	Youth-report single-item measure from WHO's 2005-06 Health Behaviors in School Age Children Survey: http://filer.uib.no/psyfa/HEMIL-senteret/HBSC/2006_Mandatory_Questionnaire.pdf	18 months
Secondary	Self-esteem	Youth-report Global Self-Esteem subscale of brief version of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (DuBois et al., 1996; Silverthorn et al., 2017)	18 months
Secondary	Happiness	Youth-report Positive Affect Pediatric Self-Report - Short Form from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) (Forrest et al., 2017)	18 months
Secondary	Grit	Youth-report Grit Scale for Children (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009)	18 months
Secondary	Social competence	Social Competencies Scale of the Youth Outcome Measures Online Toolbox (Muris, 2001)	18 months
Secondary	Special interest development	Youth-report (adapted from DuBois & Keller, 2017)	18 months
Secondary	Hopeful future expectations	Youth-report abbreviated version of the Hopeful Future Expectations Scale (Bowers et al., 2012)	18 months
Secondary	Career exploration	Youth-report 2 items (adapted from Herrera et al., 2011)	18 months
Secondary	College exploration	Youth-report 1 item (adapted from Herrera et al., 2011)	18 months
Secondary	Self-advocacy	Youth-report (Jarjoura et al., 2017)	18 months
Secondary	Coping efficacy	Youth-report 1 item adapted from Coping Efficacy Scale (Sandler et al., 2000)	18 months