Bronfenbrenner's Theory

Juvenile delinquency has been an emerging problem that needs researcher’s attention to address the many dynamics that play a role in what leads youth to delinquency, and how to effectively treat delinquency. Many factors like socioeconomic status (SES), parenting styles, and neighborhoods can contribute to juvenile delinquency and how well they adhere to treatment services. In economically strained families, difficulties can arise and have adverse effects that may lead to a risk of juvenile delinquency. Research lacks the necessary knowledge about potential factors, like socioeconomic status, that affect interventions like Multisystemic therapy (MST), and the diverse influences it may have on SES. Without this knowledge, interventions like

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is considered a family and community based intervention based off of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) theory of social ecology (Borduin et al., 2009). Consistent with Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) theory of social ecology, a key notion of the MST theory of change is that juvenile delinquency is motivated by the interaction of numerous risk factors linked to the multiple systems in which youth are surrounded by; family, school, and neighborhood (Borduin et al., 2009). What the research does not tell us about Multisystemic therapy is whether or not its effectiveness varies based on ones SES group. SES is an important factor to consider because it is suggested that youth who maintain a lower socioeconomic status may face more toxicity when faced with adversity, which may lead to severe delinquency (Low, Sinclair & Short, 2012).While MST research has revealed its efficacy on juvenile delinquency like in Robinson et

There are multiple systems involved in the development and maintenance of juvenile delinquency, and there is still so much unknown about how all the systems interact. This study will examine Multisystemic therapy and the role that socioeconomic status plays towards the effectiveness of treatment in juvenile delinquency. The purpose of this study will be to fill in the gaps of knowledge that exists about factors such as SES that may impact the efficacy of MST for juvenile delinquents.There have been several evidence based interventions used in the treatment of juvenile delinquency. Some of these models include multisystemic therapy, functional family therapy, multidimensional treatment foster care, and strategic family therapy (Henggeler & Sheidow, 2012). Of all of these interventions, MST has proven to be one of the most successful, extensively validated, evidence based treatments used in the treatment of juvenile delinquency (Henggeler & Sheidow,