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Effects of the Communities That Care Model in Pennsylvania on Youth Risk and Problem Behaviors

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Abstract

We undertook the first broad-scale quasi-experimental evaluation of youth outcomes in communities using the Communities That Care program (Hawkins, J. D., & Catalano, R. F., Jr. San Francisco, CA, USA: Jossey-Bass Inc, Publishers, 1992a), which targets adolescent problem behaviors. We evaluated 15 risk factors and 6 outcomes (substance use and delinquent behaviors) for 38,107 youth in 2001 and 98,436 youth in 2003 in Pennsylvania schools. Multilevel analyses compared student reports in communities with CTC programs to comparable communities without CTC, while controlling for level of poverty in the community. Results favored the CTC communities at greater than chance levels in terms of lower rates of some risk factors and outcomes. In a follow-up analysis, CTC community grade cohorts were included only if the grade cohort was expected to benefit from a CTC sponsored program (based on timing of program implementation and target age of the program). Evidence of CTC effects for grade cohorts that received evidence-based programs was even stronger. These findings suggest that community coalitions can affect adolescent public health problems at a population level, especially when evidence-based programs are utilized.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). However, findings and recommendations herein are those of the authors and not official statements of PCCD. We want to acknowledge the enthusiastic support of Michael Pennington, Ruth Williams, Douglas Hoffman, Raymond Moneta, and Clay R. Yeager at PCCD in supporting the vision of this project. We are also grateful for the work of Jonathan Olson in the early analyses of this data, and the consultation of Mike Rovine and David Wagstaff.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, S-105 Henderson Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Mark E. Feinberg, Mark T. Greenberg, Jennifer Sartorius & Daniel Bontempo

  2. Crime, Law and Justice Program, Department of Sociology, College of the Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    D. Wayne Osgood

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  1. Mark E. Feinberg
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  2. Mark T. Greenberg
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  3. D. Wayne Osgood
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  4. Jennifer Sartorius
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  5. Daniel Bontempo
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Correspondence to Mark E. Feinberg.

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Feinberg, M.E., Greenberg, M.T., Osgood, D.W. et al. Effects of the Communities That Care Model in Pennsylvania on Youth Risk and Problem Behaviors. Prev Sci 8, 261–270 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-007-0073-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-007-0073-6

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