Factors Associated With Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Involvement Among Children With Severe Emotional Disturbance

• Author: James M. Frabutt,Terri L. Shelton,Kelly N. Graves
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204006292870
• Published date: 01 April 2007
• Date: 01 April 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

Factors Associated With Mental

Health and Juvenile Justice

Involvement Among Children

With Severe Emotional Disturbance

Kelly N. Graves

Bennett College for Women

James M. Frabutt

Terri L. Shelton

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Recent research has highlighted the fact that there is an overrepresentation of children with

mental health problems in the juvenile justice system. Thus, this study uses a clinical sample of

children receiving mental health services to examine demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity), person-

level (e.g., anxious and/or depressed), family-level (e.g., number of transitions in living situa-

tions), and school-level factors associated with being involved in themental health and juvenile

justice service systems (i.e., dual involvement). Analyses were conducted separately by gender

to investigate differences in dual involvement and possible differences in the predictors of dual

involvement. For boys and girls, older adolescents and a higher number of living transitions

were associated with dual involvement. For girls only, depression and/or anxiety and social

problems were associated with dual involvement. The findings highlight the need for greater

collaboration among service systems given the strong overlap between mental health and juve-

nile justice involvement for many children.

Keywords: juvenile justice; mental health; serious emotional disturbance; system of care

According to the Surgeon General’s report on mental health, more than four million

children suffer from a major mental illness (Office of the Surgeon General, 2001).

Researchers have documented that between 40% to 90% of children and adolescents involved

in the juvenile justice system also suffer from a mental illness compared to 18% to 22% of

the general youth population (Cocozza, Stern, & Blau, 2005; Kazdin, 2000; Teplin, 2001;

Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002). Thus, it is likely that children’s men-

tal health problems play a major role in their offending behaviors. Despite these concerns, lit-

tle is known about clinically related factors that might be associated with dual involvement in

mental health and juvenile justice systems. The current study uses a subsample of children

receiving community-based mental health services to examine factors that are associated with

dual involvement. Furthermore, because relatively little attention has been given to differ-

ences in clinically relevant factors based on gender, the current study examines these factors

separately by gender to predict whether a child with mental health problems also will become

involved in the juvenile justice system.

Youth Violence and

Juvenile Justice

Volume 5 Number 2

April 2007 147-167

© 2007 Sage Publications

10.1177/1541204006292870

http://yvj.sagepub.com

hosted at

http://online.sagepub.com

147

Many children and adolescents who access community-based mental health services are

diagnosed with a serious emotional disturbance (SED). SED is defined as having a clinical

diagnosis, a functional impairment, and disturbances in multiple domains within the child’s

life (e.g., school, home, community, etc.; Pumariega & Winters, 2003). The SED population

is estimated to encompass approximately 4.5 to 6.3 million children (6% to 8%) in the

United States (Friedman, Katz-Leavy, Manderscheid, & Sondheimer, 1999). By definition,

these children and adolescents experience problems across multiple domains and often

require coordinated, multiple-systems intervention (Hansen, Litzelman, & Marsh, & Milspaw,

2004). Previous research using community samples has indicated that almost 46% to 88%

of children involved with the juvenile justice system also were diagnosed with a SED

(Lyons, Baerger, Quigley, Erlich, & Griffin, 2001).

Based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) theory of social ecology, these children exemplify the

postulation that behavior can be multiply determined. The social ecology concept posits that

behavior can stem from internal biological and psychological mechanisms as well as exter-

nal interactions with others across family, peer, and school domains. Because development

has numerous contextual influences, the current study examines factors across a variety

of domains (in addition to demographic factors such as gender and ethnicity), including

person-level, family-level, and school-level factors to identify comprehensive, clinically rel-

evant factors related to dual involvement. In doing so, the current study also adheres to best

practice guidelines, which have been recommended by the President’s New Freedom

Commission (2002) and many other researchers (e.g., Greene, Peters, & Associates, 1998;

Hansen et al., 2004).

Recent research has found that examining factors across multiple domains may be more

insightful when trying to understand antisocial behavior, particularly because there may be

gender differences in the predictors of risk (Gorman-Smith & Loeber, 2005). In that study,

antisocial behavior among girls was more influenced by parenting variables such as parental

monitoring than among boys, whereas antisocial behavior among boys was more influenced

by deviant peers than among girls. Those findings hint at the possibility that particular eco-

logical systems (e.g., family vs. school) might have unique, gender-based influences on

development. Thus, the current study expands on this possibility by examining whether there

also might be different predictors based on gender for dual involvement with an SED sam-

ple using factors that represent the multiple ecological systems within a child’s life.

Demographic Factors

Although the violent crime index declined in 2003 for the ninth consecutive year (falling

48% from its 1994 peak), there continues to be areas of concern with respect to arrest rates.

For example, between 1980 and 2003, arrest rates for simple assault increased 269% for

females and 102% for males (Snyder, 2005). Although boys repeatedly are reported to be

more violent than girls (Kashani, Jones, Bumby, & Thomas, 1999), that trend is changing,

with rates of violence among girls quickly approaching the rates of violence among boys

(Snyder, 2005). Even given these statistics, some research indicates the existence of chival-

rous treatment of female offenders in the initial stages of criminal processing (Visher,

1983), with girls receiving “lighter” punishments for illegal behaviors.

148 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice