Decision making and perceived post-detention success among incarcerated youth

Abstract

This exploratory study seeks to better understand the link between decision-making skills and perceived postdetention success among incarcerated youth. The study uses data derived from surveys administered in 2001 of 197 incarcerated youth in two Nevada youth detention facilities. Results reveal that those youth possessing higher levels of decision-making competence scored higher on a postedetention success scale. This rela-tionship was found while controlling for gender, age, ethnicity, number of arrests, and family conflict. Implications for detention-based education and prevention program-ming, as well as future research are discussed. Although adolescent violence and crime rates have recently abated from their historically high levels, illegal and risky behaviors continue to be com-mon among youth (Ellickson, Saner, & McGuigan, 1997; Moody & Lupton-Smith, 1999). This is a serious societal concern because delinquents are more likely than nondelinquents to suffer an assortment of problems in adulthood, including unemployment, alcoholism, and dependence on welfare (Kazdin, 1992). A variety of intervention approaches based on differing conceptual models have been initiated to help address this issue, but most have reporte