Children and Youth Services Review
Question One
Franz, D. J., Griffin, A. M., Saldana, L., & Leve, L. D. (2019). A Longitudinal Examination of Service Utilization and Trauma Symptoms among Young Women with Prior Foster Care and Juvenile Justice System Involvement. Child Welfare, 97(5), 197–213.
Question Two
The type of study in the article is an experimental research design since it establishes a connection linking the cause and impact of a situation. The study demonstrates the relationship between the utilization of adult services and trauma symptoms from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescents’ mental health symptoms among young women involved in dual child welfare and the juvenile justice system. Thus, the study observes the effect of ACEs on the mental health of adolescents. Moreover, the study monitors the impact of adolescent mental health symptoms on service utilization and young adult trauma. Experimental research design observes human behavior to help solves an existing problem by studying the behaviors of participants.
Question Three
The research is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The qualitative method is used to determine the relationship between adolescent mental health symptoms and ACE trauma symptoms. Further, the qualitative approach is used to establish a connection between service utilization and adolescent mental health and young adult trauma. Therefore, the researchers can predict service utilization by young adults depending on their ACE trauma symptoms and adolescent mental health symptoms. The quantitative method is used for statistical data and conclusions, such as measuring trauma-related symptomatology. Qualitative method is used to measure the trauma symptoms scores and their consistency at every wave. Further, the study contains numerous numerical data, such as Cronbach’s α = .91–.94.
Question Four
There are ethical consequences on the results in general since they do not represent the approved viewpoints of the National Institutes of Health but are solely the authors’ responsibility. Further, research with minors, especially those with mental health issues, can be ethically sensitive (Hiriscau et al., 2016). One of the results involved adolescents participants assigned to Treatment Foster Care, Oregon. To come up with the results, the researchers required confidentiality of sensitive data and competence for assessing the capacity of adolescents consenting without their parents or guardians. Another ethical consequence is the risk of harm and stigma associated with the procedures employed in the research.
Question Five
The research findings have implications on both public policy and professional practice since the study focuses on the mental health symptoms rates for young women involved in dual-system during adolescence. The research also focuses on how mental health symptoms affect their adulthood. Thus, the study underlines the necessity of intervention programs to help adolescents with mental health symptoms. The study also recommends that states and countries should implement preventive types of care on primary, secondary, and tertiary levels to minimize the long-term costs linked to dual-system involvement during adolescence. The preventive types of primary care will stop youth from going into the child welfare system and the juvenile justice system and target the unfulfilled mental health needs of young women involved in dual-system before exiting care.
Question Six
The article has taught me the importance of criminal justice research. Evidence from criminal justice research is crucial to the improvement of criminal justice decision making. A study that is well designed and implemented can facilitate a better exploration of the effects of practices, policies, and programs to know whether they are working effectively.
References
Franz, D. J., Griffin, A. M., Saldana, L., & Leve, L. D. (2019). A Longitudinal Examination of Service Utilization and Trauma Symptoms among Young Women with Prior Foster Care and Juvenile Justice System Involvement. Child Welfare, 97(5), 197–213. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7167304/
Hiriscau, E., Stingelin-Giles, N., Wasserman, D., & Reiter-Theil, S. (2016). Identifying Ethical Issues in Mental Health Research with Minors Adolescents: Results of a Delphi Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(5), 489. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13050489