Citation

Chamberlain P, Moore KJ. J. Aggression Maltreat. Trauma 2002; 6(1): 79-108.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J146v06n01_05

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Female adolescents entering the juvenile justice system have complex and serious problems in multiple areas of adjustment. Literature is reviewed on the prevalence and form of antisocial behavior in girls and on the long-term implications of such problems in adolescence. Risk factor characteristics, including family fragmentation, physical and sexual trauma, mental health problems, official arrest and self-report offending histories of a population of girls referred for out-of-home placement because of repeated and chronic juvenile offending are presented. In addition, with the exception of sexual trauma histories, these sample characteristics are compared to a similar sample of chronically offending boys. A treatment approach is described and pilot data are presented on its feasibility. Implications for designing empirically-based, gender-related treatment models are discussed.