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Aggression Replacement Training (ART) for youth in state institutions

Juvenile Justice
  Literature review updated June 2019.

Aggression Replacement Training (ART) is a cognitive behavioral intervention that targets chronically aggressive youth. ART aims to help adolescents improve social skill competence and moral reasoning, better manage anger, and reduce aggressive behavior. ART is a ten-week, 30-hour intervention delivered in groups of 8 to 12 participants, three times per week.

This analysis is on ART for youth in state institutions. Youth in the included study were females in a juvenile rehabilitation facility who had been assessed as having violent/aggressive behavior. In the included study, 33% of participants were youth of color. All participants in the treatment and comparison groups received treatment as usual, which included some cognitive behavioral programs or other individual/group counseling.

Evaluations on ART for juvenile justice system-involved youth in the community, including court-involved youth and post-release youth, are excluded from this analysis and analyzed separately.

Key Terms

Court-involved youth: Youth who are processed through the juvenile justice system but who are not ordered to a period of confinement in a residential or correctional facility. This includes populations of arrested youth, diverted youth, charged youth, adjudicated youth, and youth on probation or formal supervision.

Youth in state institutions: Youth who are confined in a residential or correctional facility when they participate in the program.

Youth post-release: Youth who are returning to the community following a period of confinement in a residential or correctional facility and who participate in the program after release to the community.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Disruptive behavior disorder symptoms
Clinical diagnosis of a disruptive behavior disorder (e.g., conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) or symptoms measured on a validated scale.
 17 1 30 -0.078 0.301 17 -0.078 0.796

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Erickson, J.A. (2013). The efficacy of Aggression Replacement Training with female juvenile offenders in a residential commitment program (Unpublished dissertation). Tampa: University of South Florida