DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36429.v1
title: The Self-Determination and Mental Health of Youth in Residential Placement, United States, 2003
title: Version 1

description: These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
Secondary data analysis was performed on the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Survey of Youth in Residential Placement (SYRP), which is the only national survey that gathers data directly from youth in the juvenile justice system. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) designed the survey in 2000 and 2001 to survey offender youth between the ages of 10 and 20. SYRP asks the youth about their backgrounds, offense histories and problems; the facility environment; experiences in the facility; experiences with alcohol and drugs; experiences of victimization in placement; medical needs and services received; and their expectations for the future. 
The collection contains 1 syntax text file (Mplus syntax.txt). No data is included in this collection.
description: The purpose of this project was to examine patterns of vulnerability and resilience related to prior trauma including abuse and maltreatment of youth in residential placement, with a focus on 2 outcomes predictive of successful transitions back to the community: self-determination, which refers to youths' goals and aspirations for the future and their skills to accomplish them, and mental health.
Project goals were twofold:

to examine the link of prior abuse with the self-determination and mental health of youth in residential placement; and; 
to identify experiences of youth in correctional placement that either exacerbate or protect against the risks to self-determination and mental health.;
description: The Survey of Youth in Residential Placement (SYRP) used an audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI) system to ask questions and record answers. With this system, youth wore headphones and heard a prerecorded interviewer's voice read the words on the screen. Youth indicated their response choice by touching it on the screen. The computer program automatically navigated to the next appropriate question based on the youth's earlier answers, storing all the data anonymously and securely. The method avoided literacy problems, encouraged candid answers on sensitive topics, and permitted strong privacy and confidentiality. Survey responses were never associated with youth's identities and delinked from facility identifiers before data were unencrypted for analysis. This meant that SYRP could ask youth about their experiences of violence and abuse without having sufficient information to provide actionable reports to child protection authorities.
description: Prior Abuse
Prior abuse was assessed by combining and summing six questions within the data set that asked youth about their experiences with physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. For each type of abuse, respondents were asked if they had been abused "by a grown-up in their life" when they were living with their family or in another home. Those who responded "yes" were then asked how many times this had happened. 
Victimization within the facility
Four questions from the data set addressed victimization within the facility. Youth were asked if their property had been stolen and if they had been robbed, threatened or beaten up, or forced into sexual activity since their arrival. Each respondent was first asked if he/she had experienced each type of victimization. Those who reported "yes" were then asked how many times this had occurred to them within the facility.
Facility Climate
To assess facility climate, the researchers combined three scales from the data set: positive perceptions of staff, negative perceptions of staff, and perceptions of unfair punishment.
Mental Health
A scale within the data set which measures depression and anxiety symptoms was used as a measure of mental health. The scale is composed of 6 items that asked youth about their feelings and experiences over the past few months. 2 questions assessed symptoms of anxiety by asking youth if nervous or worried feelings had kept them from doing things they wanted to do, and if nightmares had made them afraid to go to sleep. Symptoms of isolation were tapped into by asking youth if they had "felt lonely too much of the time" and that they did not have fun with their friends anymore. The final 2 items asked youth if they had "felt angry a lot" and "had a lot of bad thoughts or dreams about a bad or scary event that happened" to them.
Self-Determination
3 variables were used as indicators of self-determination:

Number of strengths, which sums youth's endorsement of strengths in 6 areas (working with people, working with ones hands, writing, math, science, computers).; 
Future expectations, which is the sum of whether youth expect they will have a steady job, be married, and have children.; 
Endorsement of having a plan for finding a job, setting goals, and finding a place to live.; 

Offense type
Within the data set, multiple questions formed a scale categorizing career offense profile by the most severe offense youth had committed. These responses included, "murder, rape, kidnapping," "robbery or assault," "property offense," "drug offense or public order offense," and "status offense, technical parole violation or unspecified." These categories were then recoded into violent or nonviolent offenses for the current study. The violent category included both "murder, rape, kidnapping" and "robbery or assault" where the non-violent category included "property offense," "drug offense or public order offense," and "status offense, technical parole violation or unspecified."
Receipt of counseling services
Youth were asked whether or not they had received counseling to help deal with their feelings and emotions since arriving to the facility.
description: Presence of Common Scales: 
					The SYRP used several Likert-type scales.
description: Response Rates: 
					Not applicable.
description: Datasets: 
					
						DS1: Dataset
description: audio computer-assisted self interview (ACASI)
description: on-site questionnaire
description: Offender youth between the ages of 10 and 20 in all facilities surveyed for the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) and the Juvenile Residental Facility Census (JRFC) excluding only extremely small facilities (those with fewer than three offender youth in residence).
				   		Smallest Geographic Unit: State (SYRP)
description: The study contains 1 syntax files. The following information relates to The Survey of Youth in Residential Placement.
SYRP used a stratified, two-stage, probability-proportional-to-size (PPS) sample design. Facilities were sampled at the first stage using a function of the facility offender count as the size measure. Clusters of youth were sampled from each selected facility at the second stage. Both pre- and post-adjudication youth and facilities are part of SYRP. The sample included 290 facilities selected from a total of 3,893 facilities on the census listings in August 2001 and/or September 2002.