Reducing violence and victimization in at-risk adolescent girls and boys

INTERVENTION: 1. A 10‐week attachment‐focused intervention program (Connect) for parents or parental surrogates of teens who engage in aggressive, violent, and antisocial behaviour. 2. Following completion of informed consent by parents and assent by youth, parents will complete screening (described below) to determine eligibility. 3. During the screening and enrolment period, participants in the community will be identified and recruited in a multi‐stage screening process conducted across three cohorts of youth over three consecutive school years. Primary schools within a large urban area will participate to ensure the required screening sample of N=7,000. Adolescents who self‐identify and are identified by parents or alternate caregivers as highly aggressive will be invited to participate in screening. Those who score in the top 40% of the screening measure will be eligible for the Stage 2 screen. The Stage 2 screen will consist of having primary caregivers complete the self‐report of the Problem Frequency Behaviour Frequency Scale‐Aggression, rating their adolescent. A final risk score will be obtained by standardizing scores on the youth‐ and parent‐report screens within sex, and then combining the two scores. We will invite approximately the top 14‐16% of these youth and their families to participate in the RCT phase of the project. During the enrolment period, parents of eligible youth indicating interest in participating will be provided with information about the program and invited to participate. This information will be presented in evening group sessions at local schools, and with individual follow‐up sessions as needed. 4. Eligible parent‐youth dyads will be randomly assigned to either the intervention, a 10 week manualized parent‐teen attachment intervention ‐ Connect, or a no‐intervention comparison condition. 5. Parents and youth will complete measures prior to and following treatment, and three sessions afterwards at six‐month intervals post‐treatment. 6. Each CONDITION: At risk for aggression, violence and poor mental health ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders ; Unsocialized conduct disorder SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. The Parenting Representations Interview ; 2. Youth biological stress reactivity (salivary cortisol) ; 3. Genotype moderation (DRD4) ; 4. Grade point average ; INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. English speaking 2. Parent‐youth dyads of adolescents (community sample) at risk for significantly elevated levels of aggression and violence 3. Available to attend all intervention program components and follow‐ups PRIMARY OUTCOME: 1. The Comprehensive Adolescent‐Parent Attachment Inventory ? Parent Version (CAPAI‐P) ; 2. The Comprehensive Adolescent‐Parent Inventory ? Youth Version (CAPAI‐Y); 3. The Children?s Report of Parenting Behaviors Inventory (CRPBI) ; 4. The Caregiver Strain Questionnaire (CGSQ) ; 5. Parental Support for Fighting Scale (PSFS); 6. Problem Behavior Frequency Scale ? Aggression and Victimization (Youth report); 7. The Conflict Tactics Scale ? Perpetrator subscale (CTS; youth and parent report) ; 8. The Affect Regulation Checklist (ARC; parent and youth report) ; 9. Youth Self‐Report (YSR) Externalizing scale ; 10. Normative Beliefs About Aggression Scale ; 11. Attitudes Towards Aggression in Dating Situations Scale ; 12. Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Externalizing and Internalizing scales (Parent report about adolescent)