Readiness for Independent Living Among Youth on the Verge of Leaving Juvenile Correctional Facilities

Background and Purpose:  Juvenile correctional facilities (JCFs), a form of mandatory substitute care, cater for youth who alongside their criminal activity are often characterized by suicidal attempts, substance abuse, and a personal history of physical and sexual abuse, placing them at the far end of the care continuum. In the last decade, a growing body of literature has documented the dismal outcomes of these youth in education, employment and recidivism upon returning to the community. To date, there is no research on these adolescents before they leave care examining how ready are they to leave care and integrate into normative society.

The purpose of this study is thus twofold. First, we examine self-reports of adolescents in correctional settings on the verge of leaving care regarding their readiness for independent living. Second, we investigate whether readiness is associated with individual, placement, and staff support characteristics.

Methods: The entire cohort of Israeli adolescents, aged 16-18 (M = 17; SD = 1.11), placed in JCFs, 200 in total, were approached, of which 116 (response rate = 58%) were reached and participated in the study. The youth responded to self-report questionnaires administered at the settings by research staff. The instruments tapped youth's background characteristics, personal attributes of self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965; α = 0.85) and optimism (LOT-R- Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994;  α = .60), placement characteristics (e.g., length of stay), social support from parents (RFMQ- Mayseless & Hai, 1998; α = 0.86, α = 0.80 for the father and mother, respectively), peer and staff Support (MOS- Sherbourne & Stewart, 1991; α = 0.95,  α = 0.91 for peer and staff respectively),  and readiness for independent living (Benbenishty & Zeira, 2008; α = 0.92).      

Results: Most adolescents perceived their readiness to leave care as high in all domains assessed, with girls showing significantly lower levels of readiness compared to boys (r = -.27**). Higher levels of perceived readiness were associated with higher self esteem (r = .59***) and optimism (r = .41***) as well as more support from peers (r = .44***) and staff (r = .26**). Regression analysis conducted to estimate the multivariate contribution of the predictive variables showed that 47% of variance in youth readiness was accounted for. The strongest predictors were being a male and having high self-esteem and strong staff support.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest that girls constitute a vulnerable sub-group within the predominantly male juvenile justice system population especially prone to experience difficulties upon re-entry. In addition, the findings highlight the often overlooked importance of supportive relationships with peers and staff in juvenile correctional settings. The authors recommend gender specific interventions addressing the unique needs of female offenders, careful planning for leaving care and re-entering the community and implementation of group interventions, making proper use of pro-social peer support within the institutions, and additional staff training and ongoing supervision.