Conduct disorder and delinquency

Overviews evidence-based family treatments for adolescent conduct problems. Three treatments succeed in meeting recommendations for treatment development set forth in recent evaluations by reviewers and federal entities. These treatments (Functional Family Therapy, Multisystemic Therapy, and Oregon Treatment Foster Care) have achieved their success by using the science base of known risk factors, providing an effective alternative to restrictive placements, and using scientific methods to evaluate effectiveness. Major features of these three treatments are presented, including clinical and quality assurance procedures, controlled outcome research support, cost analyses, and process research. Bases of treatment success and parallels among the three approaches are summarized, as is their transport and dissemination to practice settings. Finally, suggestions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Chartering strategies for shipping companies

This paper describes a model which may be used in the evaluation of the relative effectiveness of policies used in the areas of ship chartering and the switching of combined carriers between the dry cargo market and the tanker market. The policies for chartering and market switching are expressed in the form of ‘desired proportions’ of the fleet operating in a particular charter-mode or a particular market. Graphical illustration of this form of expression of policies can be easily understood, so that alternative policies can be designed with relative ease. The effectiveness of a particular form of policy under various freight market conditions can be determined from the model, the use of which is illustrated by its application to the deployment of the fleet of an hypothetical shipping company. It is assumed that the feedback connection between the company's actions and the marketplace is negligible.     

Partner Violence and Street Violence among Urban Adolescents: Do the Same Family Factors Relate?

Few studies have evaluated how participation in violence that occurs on the streets as part of criminal or delinquent behavior relates to violence that occurs as part of dating or marital relationships (partner violence). Using longitudinal data from 141 African American and Latino male youth (15–19 years old), the relation between family characteristics and participation in one or both types of violent behavior was evaluated. The youth in this study were more likely to report use of violence in relationships if they were also participating in violence as part of other criminal behavior. However, there were distinct groups of offenders. Among those males reporting involvement in a dating or romantic relationship, four groups were identified: (1) those who had not participated in either type of violence, 57%; (2) those who had participated in partner violence only, 14%; (3) those who had participated in street violence only, 12%; and (4) those who had participated in both, 17%. Discriminate function analyses significantly differentiated the group who had participated in both types of violence from the nonviolent group, with the former group having poorer functioning families. These two groups were also differentiated from the partner violence‐only and street violence‐only groups. No differences were found between the partner violence‐only and the street violence‐only groups. Implications for intervention and prevention are discussed.     

Exchange curves for fixing batch quantities

The problem considered is that of choosing batch quantities to minimize costs, subject to the constraints that neither overall set-up costs nor overall set-up time can be increased beyond certain limits. Theoretical and graphical solutions are obtained for two possible formulations of the problem, and a simple practical procedure is suggested.     

Empirically supported family-based treatments for conduct disorder and delinquency in adolescents

Several family-based treatments of conduct disorder and delinquency in adolescents have emerged as evidence-based and, in recent years, have been transported to more than 800 community practice settings. These models include multisystemic therapy, functional family therapy, multidimensional treatment foster care, and, to a lesser extent, brief strategic family therapy. In addition to summarizing the theoretical and clinical bases of these treatments, their results in efficacy and effectiveness trials are examined with particular emphasis on any demonstrated capacity to achieve favorable outcomes when implemented by real-world practitioners in community practice settings. Special attention is also devoted to research on purported mechanisms of change as well as the long-term sustainability of outcomes achieved by these treatment models. Importantly, we note that the developers of each of the models have developed quality assurance systems to support treatment fidelity and youth and family outcomes; and the developers have formed purveyor organizations to facilitate the large-scale transport of their respective treatments to community settings nationally and internationally.