THE EFFECTS OF A PROBATION INTERVENTION ON JUVENILE-OFFENDERS SELF-CONCEPTS, LOCI OF CONTROL, AND PERCEPTIONS OF JUVENILE JUSTICE

This article examines the impact of job preparation, short-term outdoo r adventure, and family relationships programming on juvenile probatio ners' self-concepts, loci of control (internal versus external), and p erceptions of juvenile justice. Traditional probation services constit ute the standard for comparison. After establishing the rationale for selection of the three dependent variables and describing how the inte rvention addressed these variables, the authors present data derived f rom a two-factor experimental pretest-posttest design. Results indicat e that the intervention did not achieve its intended effects, as measu red by self-report scales. This outcome is discussed in relation to pr ogram design and evaluation.