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Interactions among peers in residential youth care are an important dynamic factor affecting behavioral adjustment and treatment success. Assessment and monitoring of the quality of peer interactions are potentially important for promoting a positive peer culture at the living group, contributing to a positive social climate. However, currently, there are no measures available to assess peer interactions in residential youth care. The present study describes the development, construct validity, and reliability of the Peer Interactions in Residential Youth Care questionnaire (PIRY) in a sample of 345 adolescents (age M = 15.45, SD = 1.59, 44.9% male) in the Netherlands. Confirmatory factor analysis of a two-factor model (peer support and acceptance, and relational aggression) showed a good fit to the data, and internal consistency reliabilities were good for both scales. Partial strict measurement invariance for gender was established, and no significant differences were found between boys and girls on latent factor means. The PIRY can be used in practice to assess and monitor both positive and negative peer interactions in residential youth care at the group level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Contains fulltext : 231833.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Background: This study focused on the cultural and gender differences in the perception of living group climate quality between native Dutch youth and Dutch youth with a Turkish and Moroccan cultural background placed in Dutch residential youth care. Method: Living group climate was examined by means of a self-report measure in a sample of 437 youth of whom were 178/173 native Dutch boys and girls, and 40/46 Turkish/Moroccan boys and girls. Living group climate was measured with the Group Climate Instrument that consists of four subscales (i.e. Support, Growth, Repression, and Atmosphere). Result: Results indicated that Turkish/Moroccan boys experienced significantly less support and growth in comparison to native Dutch boys. Conclusion: We conclude that a cultural sensitive approach in residential youth care is important by acknowledging the cultural values, specifically the collectivistic masculine identity of Turkish/Moroccan boys, to better meet basic psychological needs of these boys in residential care and improve treatment efficacy. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. 10 p.

Most youth in residential youth care institutions have a long history of adverse childhood experiences, and show (severe) emotional, behavioral, and academic problems. The present study used adoles...

Repression in residential youth care institutions can manifest itself openly in coercive measures or may be concealed in staff behavior that is endemic to residential youth care, such as soft power and strict behavioral control (i.e., structure), which threatens rehabilitative goals and might even violate children’s rights. To increase awareness of particularly the more hidden aspects of repression, this qualitative study follows the framework method to examine processes that cause adolescents to experience repression. Semistructured interviews were conducted with an ethnic diverse sample of 32 adolescents from open, secure, and forensic (i.e., youth prisons) residential youth care institutions in the Netherlands. Results indicated that adolescents tend to accept structure, rules, coercion, and punishments, and that they expect staff to use their power to create order and safety. However, results also showed that restrictive measures may be approved by adolescents to cope with repression, taking the form of rationalization. Staff behavior perceived as unfair or excessive by the adolescents was conceived of as repressive. Respect for autonomy and providing treatment that is experienced as meaningful by the adolescents seem to decrease experienced repression.

The present study examines the relation between classroom climate in schools for secondary special education and students' perceived social exclusion. A total of 401 Dutch adolescents (70.3% males) with conduct problems, attending schools for special education, filled out questionnaires on classroom climate, problems in social information processing, externalizing behavior and perceived social exclusion. Results showed that a positive classroom climate was associated with a reduction of students' externalizing behavior problems and perceived social exclusion, which was associated with improvements in social information processing. However, these relations were only found at the within group level of analysis (between students) and not at the between group level (between classes); thus contextual (class level) effects could not be demonstrated. It can be carefully stated that a positive classroom climate in secondary special education may protect against perceived social exclusion. Future research is required to examine whether our findings can be replicated in other schools for secondary special education or can be generalized to secondary education in general.

In order to work on qualitatively good residential care it is important to monitor group climate and to act on clients' feedback. The present study describes how two youth care organizations in the Netherlands implemented group climate monitoring instruments for children (GCIC 4–8 and 8–15) as part of the broader ‘You Matter!’ project (in which N = 15 teams, and N = 274 children participated), and aims to answer the question how these monitoring instruments can help to improve group climate when routinely embedded in daily care. The results indicated that, in the age group 8–15 (n = 171), negative group climate aspects diminished over two years using feedback from the children. Evaluating the ‘You Matter’ project, it appears to be worthwhile to invest in the monitoring of group climate. According to the interviewed group workers (N = 5), group climate improvements were instigated most when the feedback was discussed soon after the measurement, when teams were facilitated to reflect together and when they kept working on their shared vision. Trends in children's answers on the open-ended questions of the monitoring instrument provided further important information about how to stay focused on creating a safe and positive context for vulnerable children in residential care.

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in perceived living group climate between boys and girls in a sample of 344 youth (68.6% male, M age = 16, SD = 1.58) receiving residential youth care in the Netherlands. Participants filled out self-report measures on living group climate. Results of multilevel regression models indicated that girls in non-correctional facilities experienced living group climate most positively, and girls in correctional facilities experienced living group climate most negatively compared to girls and boys in non-correctional facilities. We conclude that residential treatment settings should adapt gender-responsive approaches to address specific needs of girls, specifically in secure residential care. Future studies should focus on specific needs of girls to advance knowledge on how they can benefit optimally from their stay in residential care to facilitate gender-specific programming in residential youth care.

Contains fulltext : 219756.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) There is increasing evidence for the importance of a positive living group climate in residential youth care with regard to treatment and recovery. However, cultural differences in perceived group climate and in particular the experiences of the group climate among youth with Turkish/Moroccan background have not been investigated yet. The main objective of this study was to examine differences in experience of living group climate between native Dutch youth and Turkish/Moroccan youth. The sample consisted of 437 youth (age M = 15.44, SD = 1.47) with a native Dutch background (80.3%) or a Turkish/Moroccan ethnical background (19.7%) living in Dutch residential youth care institutions. Data were collected using the Group Climate Instrument. Results indicated that Turkish/Moroccan youth experienced less support by group workers compared to native Dutch youth. These findings imply that professional caregivers working with youth with a different ethnical background should be sensitive to cultural differences in order to be responsive to their needs. 6 p.

Background: This study examined the psychometric properties of the Group Climate Instrument (GCI) in a sample of N = 189 adults (79% men) with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning who were residents of a treatment facility in the Netherlands. Method: Construct validity of the GCI was examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Also, reliability and convergent validity of the GCI were examined. We also examined the variability in perception of the living group climate between and within living groups by computing intraclass correlation coefficients. Results: The model contained four first-order factors (support, growth, group atmosphere and repression) and a second-order factor overall climate, providing preliminary support for construct validity of the GCI. Reliability coefficients were good for all factors. Preliminary evidence for convergent validity was found in significant moderate associations between subscales and single item ratings for the factors of group climate. The intraclass correlation coefficients indicated that a considerate proportion of variance can be attributed to between-group differences. Conclusions: The GCI might be used to assess perception of the living group climate for individuals with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning in psychiatric and forensic care settings, although further development of the GCI and replication of our findings seem necessary.

Repression in residential youth care institutions threatens youth’s positive development. When youth experience arbitrary use of power, structure, or coercion, this may cause demotivation, reactance or aggression, and diminished chances of rehabilitation in youth. Because institutional repression may be hard to recognize, a valid and reliable measurement instrument is necessary to signal repression in residential institutions. This article outlines the conceptualization, development and validation of the Institutional Repression Questionnaire in a sample of 180 youth (aged 12–24, 32% female) staying in open, secure, and forensic residential youth care institutions. The Institutional Repression Questionnaire is a self-report questionnaire, designed to measure five dimensions of repression: abuse of power, injustice, lack of autonomy, lack of meaning, and dehumanization. The multicomponent structure was confirmed in a confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in 24 items in five subscales: Abuse of Power, Justice, Lack of Autonomy, Meaning, and Humanization. One open-ended question is part of the questionnaire to invite youth to disclose more extreme cases of repression. Convergent validity was established via correlations between the Institutional Repression Questionnaire and the Prison Group Climate Inventory—as a measure of living group climate in residential institutions—and the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale-Intellectual Disability—as a measure of self-determination. The five Institutional Repression Questionnaire subscales demonstrated good internal consistency. The study provides preliminary evidence to support validity and reliability of an adolescent self-report questionnaire of perceived institutional repression as a multidimensional construct. Residential youth care institutions can use outcomes of the Institutional Repression Questionnaire to improve their living group climate.

The present study examined the relation between juvenile delinquents’ responses to social problem situations and empathy in secure juvenile institutions. The sample consisted of 79 delinquent boys (62%) and 49 delinquent girls (38%), aged 12 to 19 years. Results showed problems with accepting authority to be negatively related to both affective and cognitive empathy. Inadequate coping with competition was negatively related to cognitive empathy, whereas problems with receiving or giving help were negatively related to affective empathy. The central role of authority problems suggests that group workers could influence adolescents’ empathy development by helping them to learn to cope with social problem situations.

This study examined the internal structure, convergent validity, and reliability of the student self-report Special Education Classroom Climate Inventory (SECCI) in a sample of 325 students attending special education classes in six (semi) secure residential settings and in two youth prisons in the Netherlands. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided evidence of a theoretically based four-factor model—with Teacher Support, Positive Student Affiliation, Negative Student Interactions, and Unstructured Classroom Environment as dimensions—showing an adequate fit to the data, providing preliminary support for validity of the SECCI. Limited evidence for convergent validity was found in significant but small associations between classroom climate and academic self-concept. Ordinal Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients were good for all factors. The SECCI might be used to assess and subsequently target (problematic) classroom climate in schools for special education for students in (secure) residential youth care and youth prisons, although further development of the SECCI and replication of our study results seem necessary.

Residential youth care settings should provide youth with safe environments where they are supported and treated. However, there are aspects of residential youth care that threaten its effectiveness, and which may also violate children’s rights. Staff members exercise power over the youth, which can be abused to coerce, punish, or limit the autonomy of youth. Currently, the harmful behavior of staff includes repression through such acts as harsh and unfair control, punishment, and lack of autonomy granting. However, research on the exact nature of repression is lacking, which hampers empirical research on repression in residential youth care, and makes it difficult for residential settings to recognize repression and take the right corrective measures. A scoping review of the available literature is conducted from a humanistic, social psychological, and organizational perspective to examine the nature of repression and to provide a valid definition and its antecedents. This article offers implications for preventing, recognizing, and diminishing repression in residential youth care.

This study investigated the longitudinal relation between therapeutic alliance and treatment motivation in a sample of 174 adolescents receiving residential treatment in the Netherlands. Structural equation modeling with a cross-lagged panel design was used to examine the relation between therapeutic alliance and treatment motivation up to 9 months of treatment. Results revealed that autoregressive associations between initial therapeutic alliance and alliance at subsequent time points were significant, whereas for treatment motivation a significant association was found after 6 months, but not after 9 months. Results also showed that a higher level of therapeutic alliance after 3 months was predictive of a higher level of treatment motivation after 6 months. Furthermore, a higher level of therapeutic alliance after 6 months was predictive of a higher level of treatment motivation after 9 months. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Lack of empathy is related to aggression, delinquency, and criminaloffense recidivism. The present study examined construct validityand reliability of the German version of the Basic Empathy Scale(BES) in a sample of 94 detained German male juvenile offenders(aged 14–26). A confirmatory factor analysis with a two-factormodel of affective and cognitive empathy showed a good fit tothe data. The factor structure of the original 20-item scale, however,could not be fully replicated in the German juvenile prison sample.Therefore, the scale was reduced to 12 items. Cronbach’s alphareliability coefficients were good for both affective and cognitiveempathy. Concurrent validity of the BES was demonstrated only forcognitive empathy,which was significantly associated with callousunemotionaltraits. Although results are promising, a replicationstudy is needed to test concurrent, convergent, divergent, andpredictive validity of the German version of the BES as well astest–retest reliability.

BackgroundAggression in residential youth care institutions is a frequent problem.ObjectiveThe present short-term longitudinal study examined individual and institutional predictors of aggression in a group of 198 adolescents placed in open, semi-secure and secure residential institutions from the perspective of the importation and deprivation model.MethodsA total of 198 adolescents in residential youth care filled in questionnaires regarding group climate and aggression with a 3 month interval. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to test the degree to which individual and contextual factors predict aggression.ResultsVery limited support was found for the effect of contextual factors; only repression showed a trend, predicting direct aggression, while gender composition of the living groups yielded a small effect. Girls placed in same-gender groups showed lower levels of indirect (relational) aggression compared to adolescents placed in mixed-gender or boys-only groups, even when controlled for gender and initial levels of aggression. Type of institution (i.e., level of security) did not predict differences in aggression. In particular individual characteristics of the adolescents were associated with later aggression, including initial levels of aggression, showing substantial 3 months stability, age and gender of the adolescents.ConclusionsThese findings are in line with research showing that aggression is relatively stable. Very limited support for environmental effects was found.