Exploring Pathways to Desistance and Adjustment in Adulthood Among Juvenile Justice-Involved Females, Oregon, 2021-2023 (ICPSR 39087)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

This study built on an existing longitudinal study to further examine the trajectories of female justice involvement across adolescence and adulthood. The four main goals were to:

1. Explore the constellation of risk factors and risk processes in the lives of adult women with histories in the juvenile justice system.
2. Identify potential turning points across adulthood in the lives of adult women with histories in the juvenile justice system.
3. Understand how justice involvement is related to women's health outcomes, including biological indicators.
4. Examine the potential long-term impact of the Treatment Foster Care Oregon intervention.

Study Design View help for Study Design

Given the longitudinal nature of this project and six or more years having passed since the previous follow-up, research staff started with internet searches to determine if the original 166 participants had moved out of state, were incarcerated (n = 4), or deceased (n = 8). Participants were contacted using information previously provided in earlier assessments. If they could not be reached that way, the research team turned to social media (Facebook) as a point of contact. During prior waves of this longitudinal study, participants provided contact information for family and friends that could help research staff stay in touch with the participant if their listed information changed. These alternative contacts were utilized when contact could not be made using the previously collected information and online searches. After getting approval from the state-level Department of Corrections, participants who were incarcerated at the time of assessment were contacted through recruitment letters and a voicemail through the corrections institution.

Once participants were recruited and agreed to take part in the study, they were scheduled for a 2-hour telephone interview and a 1-hour biological assessment. While it was preferred to complete both data collection activities consecutively, the research team accommodated participants for assessment fatigue or schedule conflicts. Both the phone and biological assessments were offered in person or remotely, depending on participant preference and convenience, or due to restrictions from COVID-19. In-state participants had the option to drive to the research lab and be reimbursed for their driving mileage or having an assessor drive to meet them at a more convenient location. Participants who lived outside of a convenient driving distance were mailed a biological assessment kit and scheduled for a virtual biological assessment in which trained assessors demonstrated and validated proper data collection.

Assessments for participants who were incarcerated were revised to eliminate all potentially self-incriminating information and all biological measurements that needed to be taken with equipment. The revised assessment lasted approximately 2 hours and was conducted exclusively over the phone.

Participants received $200 for completing the telephone assessment and $100 for the biological assessment, and they were also offered a childcare reimbursement. Participants who were incarcerated at the time of the assessment were paid $200 for their single telephone assessment.

The research team also collected information on arrests, charges, dispositions, and incarceration from the adult criminal legal system in each state and/or county where the participant had reported residing since the last assessment wave. Self-reported arrest and criminal office information was also collected and used as an alternative when no official records were found.

Sample View help for Sample

This study includes 130 females who were followed for the past 18-26 years, beginning in either 1997 (Cohort 1) or 2003 (Cohort 2) when participants were 13-17 years old.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Females who had participated in the original Turning Point for Women Study for juvenile justice-involved adolescents.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

The telephone interview (DS1) examined the constructs of parenting, partner characteristics, health-risking behaviors, mental health and trauma/victimization experiences, and public system involvement. Demographics such as age, race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, income, and education were collected. This dataset also includes administrative information on arrests, charges, dispositions, and incarceration.

The biological assessment included a dried blood spot analysis of 12 biomarkers (DS2) to assess allostatic load, including cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune system function. Other health measurements (e.g., blood pressure, body measurements) and a self-reported health survey, including items on several chronic health conditions, was also conducted as part of the biological assessment (DS3).

The data in this collection can be linked through the variable ID.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

In this longitudinal follow-up, 133 out of the original 158 living participants agreed to participate (84 percent retention). Of those, 130 participants completed the telephone interview and 125 completed the biological assessment, including two of the four incarcerated participants who completed a small portion of the self-report measures from the biological assessment.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

• Attachment Relationships Questionnaire (ARQ)
• Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAP)
• Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)
• Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)
• Conflict Tactics Scale - Parent-Child (CTS P-C)
• Coronavirus Impacts Questionnaire (CIQ)
• The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST)
• Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS)
• Elliott Delinquency Scale - Friends/Peers (EDS-F)
• Elliott Delinquency Scale - Self Report (EDS-SR)
• Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII)
• Flourishing Index (FI)
• Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire (IBQ)
• International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ)
• Life Events Checklist of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (LEC-5)
• MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status - Adult Version
• Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF)
• Posttraumatic Risk Seeking Scale (PRSS)
• Pregnancy and Childbirth Trauma (PCT), adapted from the Birth Experiences Questionnaire (BEQ)
• RAND Health Survey, SF-36 (RHS)
• Revised Conflict Tactics Scale - Short Form (CTS2S)
• Sex History Survey, drawn from the Overview of Sexual Experiences and Health-Risking Sexual Behavior Scale
• Social Influences - General (SOCINF-G)
• Social Influences - Substances (SOCINF-S)
• Stigma and Shame Questionnaire (SSQ)
• Unpublished Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) instruments and other measures developed for the study: characteristics of living situations, self-reported arrests, pregnancy and parenting, service utilization survey, COVID-19 exposure and vaccination, health and biological confound survey, chronic health conditions survey, and the adapted child interview with items covering socio-demographics, subjective socioeconomic status, relationships, substance use, and sexual history

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2026-05-14

Version History View help for Version History