The Ecology of Resilience: Examining Impacts of Service Engagement, Facility Safety, and Trauma History on Positive Life Trajectories in Justice-Involved Youth

The Ecology of Resilience: Examining Impacts of Service Engagement, Facility Safety, and Trauma History on Positive Life Trajectories in Justice-Involved Youth

Although strides have been made toward reducing youth incarceration, a large number of youthful offenders in the US are still placed in secure, residential facilities each year. These residential programs have a responsibility not only to reduce youth recidivism and protect society, but also to meet youths’ developmental needs and set them on a path toward reintegration and resilience. Given the high prevalence of trauma exposure and psychopathology observed among justice-involved youth, researchers and policymakers have highlighted the necessity of providing psychosocial services to detained and incarcerated youth in order to promote positive outcomes. However, research to date has largely failed to consider how the environmental context of secure facilities may influence the course of treatment. Specifically, violence within residential facilities may present a significant barrier to the successful delivery of psychosocial services, especially for youth with prior trauma histories.

Guided by dynamic conceptualizations of long-term resilience, the proposed dissertation will apply ecological systems theory to examine whether psychosocial services delivered within residential facilities are successful in promoting positive youth trajectories following release, and whether facility violence and youth trauma history influence the effectiveness of said services. Data for the proposed project will be drawn from Pathways to Desistance study, which followed a large sample of serious juvenile offenders over the course of seven years, and specifically from data gathered following participant stays in residential facilities. Multilevel growth curve analyses will be used to model each participant’s trajectory of change following release on multiple indicators of functioning, including mental health, offending, community involvement, social support, and gainful activity. Individual differences in trajectories will then be assessed in order to determine whether and for whom psychosocial services delivered in secure facilities are effective. The results of this project will be disseminated to both academic audiences and key juvenile justice stakeholders and will help to inform the prioritization of goals within trauma-informed juvenile justice system reform efforts. CA/NCF