CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 57Crime Patterns and InterventionsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPsychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

Randomized controlled trial of Functional Family Therapy for offending and antisocial behavior in UK youth

Open access
Humayun, Sajid, Herlitz, Lauren, Chesnokov, Melanie, Doolan, Moira, Landau, Sabine, Scott, Stephen·2017·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI 10.1111/jcpp.12743
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Background: Youth offending and antisocial behavior ( ASB ) are associated with low quality mental health and relationships and usually lead to poor adult functioning; they are very costly for society. Family interventions are effective in children but there are few reliably effective and inexpensive interventions for adolescents. Functional Family Therapy ( FFT ) is an evidence‐based intervention but seldom tested outside the United States. Methods: One hundred and eleven adolescents (10–17 years of age, M = 15.0, SD = 1.63) and their families were randomized to FFT + Management As Usual ( MAU ) ( n = 65) or to MAU ( n = 46). Assessments were made at baseline 6, and 18 months after randomization and included interviews and questionnaires of parenting behaviors, conduct disorders (CDs) and offending. Parent–child interaction was directly observed and police records obtained. Trial registration: ISRCTN27650478. Results: Eighty‐nine (80%) were followed‐up. In both groups, there were large reductions over time in all measures of offending and antisocial behavior (e.g. primary outcome p < 0.001), but no significant changes over time in parenting behavior or the parent–child relationship. However, there were no differences between intervention and control groups at 6 or 18 months on self‐reported delinquency, police records of offending, symptoms or diagnoses of CDs, parental monitoring or supervision, directly observed child negative behavior, or parental positive or negative behavior. Against predictions, the intervention group showed lower levels of directly observed child positive behavior at 18 months compared to controls. Conclusions: In contrast to most previous trials of FFT , FFT + MAU did not lead to greater reductions in youth ASB and offending compared to MAU alone, and did not lead to improvements in parenting or the parent–child relationship. This may be because the trial was more rigorously conducted than prior studies; equally, the possibility that MAU was effective requires further research.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/jcpp.12743

Cites

43 of 43 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Several US-based interventions targeting youth development, education and crime reduction have struggled to replicate their positive effects in the UK and Europe, due in part to differences in service systems, cultural norms and school environments.

    “Several US-based interventions targeting youth development, education and crime reduction have struggled to replicate their positive effects in the UK and Europe more widely. This is arguably due in part to differences in service systems, cultural norms and school environments, which complicate implementation (e.g., Skärstrand et al., 2014; Baldus et al., 2016; Humayun et al., 2017; Fonagy et al.,”

    From Promoting positive youth development with adolescent boys in UK schools: A theory-driven evaluation of the "Becoming a Man" programme (2026) · cites this paper as Humayun et al., 2017

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Lipsey, M., & Wilson, D. (1998). Effective intervention for serious juvenile offenders: A synthesis of research. In R. Loeber & D. Farrington (Eds.), Serious & violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions (pp. 313-345). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc.
  2. Ministry of Justice. (2016). Proven Reoffending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin July 2013 to June 2014, England and Wales. London: National Statistics.
  3. Snell, T., Knapp, M., Healey, A., Guglani, S., Evans-Lacko, S., Fernandez, J.-L., … Ford, T. (2013). Economic impact of childhood psychiatric disorder on public sector services in Britain. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 977-985.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Humayun, S., Herlitz, L., Chesnokov, M., Doolan, M., Landau, S., & Scott, S.
Affiliations
  • King's College London (GB)
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
Corresponding author
Humayun, Sajid
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2017-05-15
Volume
58
Issue
9
Pages
1023-1032
ISSN
  • 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-7610
DOI
10.1111/jcpp.12743
OpenAlex
W2612225466
Cited by
57
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
FWCI
16.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (University of Greenwich) (acceptedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • National Institute for Health Research
  • South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
Keywords
functional family therapy, juvenile delinquency, antisocial behavior, adolescents, family intervention, parental behavior, conduct disorder, parent-child relationship, intervention effectiveness
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Adult, Child, Child Behavior, Family Therapy, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Juvenile Delinquency, Male, Parent-Child Relations, Parenting, Treatment Outcome, Conduct Disorder, Criminals

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review