Social Support and Sense of Program Belonging Discriminate between Youth-Staff Relationship Types in Juvenile Correction Settings

Abstract

This study explored the association between personal and social characteristics of incarcerated juvenile offenders and youth-staff relationship types. Employing the three relationship categories identified in a typology by Marsh and Evans (2009), multinomial logistic regression indicated that youth reporting higher levels of social support and sense of program belonging were least likely to belong to the relationship category associated with expressed dissatisfaction about problem solving and more negative forecasts. Results highlight the importance of socio-environmental factors in developing and administering productive youth correction programs.

Keywords: Social support, Environment,  Relationships, Delinquency