The Effects of Family Therapies for Adolescent Delinquency and Substance Abuse: A Meta‐analysis
Abstract
This meta-analysis summarizes results from k = 24 studies comparing either Brief Strategic Family Therapy, Functional Family Therapy, Multidimensional Family Therapy, or Multisystemic Therapy to either treatment-as-usual, an alternative therapy, or a control group in the treatment of adolescent substance abuse and delinquency. Additionally, the authors reviewed and applied three advanced meta-analysis methods including influence analysis, multivariate meta-analysis, and publication bias analyses. The results suggested that as a group the four family therapies had statistically significant, but modest effects as compared to treatment-as-usual (d = 0.21; k = 11) and as compared to alternative therapies (d = 0.26; k = 11). The effect of family therapy compared to control was larger (d = 0.70; k = 4) but was not statistically significant probably because of low power. There was insufficient evidence to determine whether the various models differed in their effectiveness relative to each other. Influence analyses suggested that three studies had a large effect on aggregate effect sizes and heterogeneity statistics. Moderator and multivariate analyses were largely underpowered but will be useful as this literature grows.
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Family-based treatments supported by evidence have been shown to outperform treatments delivered to individuals or groups.
“The utilization of evidence-based family approaches has demonstrated superiority over individual or group-based treatments (Baldwin, Christian, Berkeljon, & Shandish, 2012).”
From The impact of substance use disorders on families and children: from theory to practice (2013) · cites this paper as Baldwin, Christian, Berkeljon, & Shandish, 2012
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- Authors
- Baldwin, S. A., Christian, S., Berkeljon, A., & Shadish, W. R.
- Affiliations
- Brigham Young University (US)
- University of California System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Baldwin, Scott A.
- ORCID
- Baldwin, Scott A.
- Venue
- Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-09-06
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 281-304
- ISSN
- 0194-472X (ISSN-L)
- 1752-0606
- OpenAlex
- W2166359241
- Cited by
- 244
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 1.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Marital and Family Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ScholarsArchive (Brigham Young University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Keywords
- family therapy, juvenile delinquency, adolescent substance abuse, brief strategic family therapy, functional family therapy, multidimensional family therapy, multisystemic therapy, treatment effectiveness, influence analysis, publication bias
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Combined Modality Therapy, Family Therapy, Humans, Juvenile Delinquency, Psychotherapy, Group, Comorbidity, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Adolescent Health Services, Evidence-Based Medicine, Substance-Related Disorders
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