CAMBRIDGE-SOMERVILLE YOUTH STUDY

 

OVERVIEW

 

The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study program is a community based treatment program established in 1935.  The program has a focus on preventing delinquency, although all children ages 5-13 were eligible for the program.  A randomized, experimental trial of the program was conducted in 1939 and lasted for 5 years.  A 30-year follow-up data collection found that the program had no impact on delinquency on juveniles or when children in the program aged into adulthood.  Likewise, the program had no positive effects on health of either juveniles or later adults.  In fact, those in the program were more likely to be re-arrested for crimes as youth and adults. Some negative impacts on physical and psychological health were also found.

 

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

 

Target population: Boys ages 5 to 13 years old

 

The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study was a community based program for children and adolescents in eastern Massachusetts.  Children in the program received a counselor who visited with them and their family twice a month.  These counselors are on call for problems that the family may have been having and referred children to a variety of different programs including tutoring, medical treatment, psychiatric treatment, summer camps, Boy Scouts, YMCA, or other community programs.

 

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

 

McCord, J. (1978).  A thirty-year follow-up of treatment effects.  American Psychologist, 2, 284-289.

 

Evaluated population: 506 boys ages 5 to 13 years old in eastern Massachusetts. 

 

Approach: Children in the study were matched on demographic variables and then  randomly assigned to either a control condition or the treatment condition.  The only exception to random assignment occurred when brothers were assigned to the program; they were randomly assigned but to the same condition to prevent contamination.  Children in the intervention condition received an individual counselor who visited the family around twice a month.  Children in the experimental group were referred to or received services in a variety of areas: tutoring, medical, psychiatric, summer camps, Boy Scouts, YMCA, or other community programs.  Children in the control condition did not receive any referrals or visits from a counselor.  In this 30-year evaluation, researchers traced records of all participants in the evaluation. 

 

Results: In total, 95% of the original participants were tracked using official state records.  (Questionnaires were also mailed out to participants who were tracked down but response rates to these questionnaires ranged from 54-60% and therefore results from these will not be reported.)

 

The program had no impacts on juvenile arrest rates measured by official or unofficial records.  The program also had no impacts on adult arrest rates.  There were no differences between the two groups in the number of serious crimes committed, age at when a first crime was committed, age when first committing a serious crime, or age after no serious crime was committed.  A larger proportion of criminals from the treatment group went on to commit additional crimes than their counterparts in the control group. 

 

The researchers measured health status by gathering records from Massachusetts treatment centers and hospital.  The program had no impact on the number of men who had been treated for alcoholism.  The program had no impact on those who had received treatment in mental hospitals; but researchers found that men who had been assigned to the treatment group were more likely to have received more serious diagnoses like schizophrenia compared with men from the control group who were more likely to have received less serious diagnoses such as personality disorders.  For those who had died before the 30-year follow-up, the program had no impact on the type of death but researchers found that men assigned to the treatment group were more likely to have died at younger ages when compared with men in the control group.

 

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

A book with a full description of the program and history behind it can be found at: http://www.questia.com/library/book/an-experiment-in-the-prevention-of-delinquency-the-cambridge-somerville-youth-study-by-gordon-w-allport-edwin-powers-helen-witmer.jsp

 

References

 

McCord, J. (1978).  A thirty-year follow-up of treatment effects.  American Psychologist, 2, 284-289.

 

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

 

Evaluated participant ages: 5-13 years / Program age ranges in the Guide: middle childhood; adolescence

 

Program components: clinic-based, provider-based, or miscellaneous; community or media campaign; mentoring/tutoring

 

Measured outcomes: physical health; behavioral problems; mental health

 

 KEYWORDS: Youth, Clinic-Based, Delinquency, Juvenile Offenders, Physical Health, Social/Emotional Health, Mentoring, Tutoring, Family Therapy, Counseling/Therapy,  Home Visitation, Substance Abuse, Alcohol, Mental Health, Middle Childhood (6-11), Adolescence (12-17), Community or Media Campaign, Clinic-Based, Provider-Based, Behavioral Problems, Children, Adolescents, male.

 

Program information last updated 12/11/07

		© Child Trends 2004