Effects of Multisystemic Therapy on Caregivers of Serious Juvenile Offenders: A 26.4-Year Follow-up

INTRODUCTION: Multisystemic therapy (MST; Henggeler & Borduin, 1990) is an intensive family-based treatment that targets empirically identified determinants of antisocial behavior in a youth’s social ecology. Although evidence suggests that the positive effects of MST on criminal activity in juvenile offenders (Sawyer & Borduin, 2011) and their closest-in-age siblings (Wagner, Borduin, Sawyer, & Dopp, 2014) reach as far as midlife, the long-term impact of MST on criminality in caregivers has not been evaluated. The current study examined criminal and civil court outcomes for the caregivers of juvenile offenders who participated, on average, 26.4 years earlier in the largest randomized trial of MST (Borduin et al., 1995).

METHOD: Participants were caregivers (N = 292) from 176 families of juvenile offenders who participated in the original trial and were randomized to MST or individual therapy (IT). Public records for caregiver arrests, sentencing, and civil suits were obtained in Missouri. Percentages and relative odds of dichotomous outcomes (e.g., arrested vs. not arrested) were examined for each group. Negative binomial regression analyses were used to estimate between-groups differences on continuous outcomes (i.e., arrests, years sentenced, civil suits).

RESULTS: MST caregivers were significantly less likely to be arrested for felonies than were IT caregivers (0.0% vs. 10.5%). In addition, the rate of misdemeanor arrests was 0.74 times lower for MST caregivers than for IT caregivers. Furthermore, the number of years sentenced to incarceration or probation was 0.83 to 1.15 times lower for MST caregivers than for their IT counterparts. Moreover, MST caregivers were 43.1% less likely to have been involved in civil suits reflecting family instability (i.e., divorce, paternity, child support suits).

CONCLUSIONS: MST had long-lasting effects in reducing criminal activity (i.e., arrests, incarceration) and family-related civil suits among caregivers of juvenile offenders. The findings extend those of previous MST follow-ups with serious juvenile offenders and their siblings and suggest that MST is an effective treatment for families in which more than one member is at high risk for criminality. Although an examination of specific mechanisms of change for caregivers was beyond the scope of this study, the results are consistent with other findings demonstrating that changes in environmental risk factors (e.g., improved parenting behaviors, increased family warmth) mediate MST outcomes. These findings should be considered by policymakers and service providers in their selection of interventions for serious juvenile offenders.