Effects of early family/parent training programs on antisocial behavior and delinquency

Early family/parent training (EFPT) programmes constitute a set of methods for reducing children's behavioural problems and later delinquency that for some time have been the focus of increasing attention. But how well do they work?

Finding one's bearings in relation to a constantly growing body of research and drawing one's own conclusions is often difficult. This also applies to research on the effects produced by measures intended to combat crime. Systematic reviews are one means of helping people to pick their way through the jungle of research findings. Systematic reviews combine a number of evaluations that are considered to satisfy a list of empirical criteria for measuring effects as reliably as possible. The results of these evaluations are then used to calculate and produce an overall picture of the effects that a given measure does and does not produce. Systematic reviews aim to systematically combine the results from a number of studies in order to produce a more reliable overview of the opportunities and limitations as-sociated with a given crime prevention strategy.

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) has therefore initiated the publication of a series of systematic reviews, in the context of which internationally renowned researchers are commissioned to perform the studies on our behalf. In this study the authors have carried out a systematic review, including a meta-analy-sis, of 55 high quality evaluations from different parts of the world.

Alex R. Piquero is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland College Park, USA.

David P. Farrington is Professor of Psychological Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University, UK.

Brandon C. Welsh is an Associate Professor at the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA.

Richard Tremblay is Professor of Pediatrics/Psychiatry/Psychology, and director of the Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, Canada.

Wesley G. Jennngs is an Assistant Professor of Justice Administration, University of Louisville, USA.