Role of the working alliance in the treatment of delinquent boys in community-based programs

Examined the role of the working alliance in the treatment of delinquent ba ys in community-based community-based residential programs, clarifying the relation between therapeutic process and behavioral change. Howatlz and Gre enberg's (1989) Working Alliance Inventory was used to assess the therapeut ic alliance between youth and staff after 3 weeks in treatment and again af ter 3 months. Achenbach 's (1991) Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Youth Sel f-Report [YSR] and Teacher Report Form [TRF]) and recidivism scores were us ed to assess treatment progress and outcome Results indicated that a positi ve working alliance assessed after 3 months in treatment related to positiv e psychological changes and predicted lower rates of recidivism, Unexpected ly, a positive working alliance assessed early in treatment was associated with negative outcomes (increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms and higher rates of recidivism). This finding suggests that for some delinq uent youth initially optimistic assessments may be prognostic of slow progr ess or treatment failure.