Reductions in juvenile delinquency, family violence, and crime

Most early childhood home visiting models included in the HomVEE review do not have an explicit goal of reducing juvenile delinquency, family violence, and crime. Some, however, seek to reduce risky parental behaviors in ways that are similar to those of models that explicitly target these goals. For example, some models try to address parental mental health, self-efficacy, and self-sufficiency either directly or through linkages with other service providers. Provision of these services may affect families’ long-term well-being and reduce the likelihood of adult criminal behavior and family violence. Many early childhood home visiting models provide parenting education and parent-child interaction activities, which may improve parents’ capacity to manage their children’s behaviors and set children on a trajectory in which they are less likely to engage in later risky behaviors such as juvenile delinquency.

In this domain, outcomes may include domestic and family violence, interaction with the justice system by the mother or by a youth who received home visiting services during early childhood, or school suspensions or expulsions for one of these youth. Outcome measures in this domain include the incidence of parent and youth antisocial behavior, based on archived data from state records, as well as parent, teacher, and youth self-report of antisocial behaviors, and are not standardized (normed). For example, HomVEE has classified the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), a measure that assesses family violence, intimate partner violence and child maltreatment, as a secondary measure in this domain.

The effects shown in the research are grouped into four categories: (1) favorable, (2) no effect, (3) unfavorable or ambiguous, and (4) not measured. Results for models that only have low-rated research are listed as “not applicable.” For more information on these categories please read the procedures and standards handbook. Only results from manuscripts that receive a moderate or high rating are considered below. This table includes manuscripts links to more information on the model’s effectiveness, implementation, and details on findings in this domain.

Effects shown in research — Reductions in juvenile delinquency, family violence, and crime domain