Motivating Change in High-Risk Adolescents: An Intervention Focus on the Deviant Friendship Process
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Date
2004-03
Authors
Knopes, David Ryan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The purpose of the following literature review is not to exhaustively survey the
current state of delinquency intervention science. Rather, the goal is to clearly delineate
the developmental and peer social processes that reinforce and exacerbate adolescent
problem behavior. Reviewed literature focuses on the developmental impact of family of
origin, detailing how coercive family dynamics negatively impact social skills
development. Consideration is then given to the difficulties children from coercive
families have with school transitions. Reviewed research suggests that children who
remain reliant on coercive interpersonal processes can commonly be directed by both
punishments and interventions towards delinquent peer clustering, inadvertently creating
environments that reinforce and exacerbate pre-delinquent social dynamics. Focus is then
turned to the unique social and reinforcement dynamics inherent in these delinquent peer
groups, identifying language and verbal dynamics as being a special risk factors and
predictors of later problem behavior. This review, although necessarily limited in scope,
argues that for the highest risk adolescents, delinquent talk and the behavioral
reinforcement that it generates within the delinquent peer group is a powerful primer for
later delinquent action. I also argue that high-risk adolescents' verbal behaviors are both
visible and viable targets for intervention efforts.
Description
134 pages
Keywords
literature review, social development, language and deviancy training, delinquency, mechanisms of MI, coercive family process model