Randomized Controlled Trial of Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring for Prevention of Crime and Delinquency

NCT ID: NCT03495635

Last Updated: 2026-01-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1361 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-02-02
• Study Completion Date: 2025-06-30

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) community-based mentoring (CBM) program for prevention of crime and delinquency/conduct problems, including risk and protective factors for these outcomes. Approximately 2,500 youth ages 10-16 will be randomly assigned to either the CBM program or an untreated control group. Study outcomes will be assessed over a 4-year period via both youth- and parent-report surveys and official records of police/court contact (e.g., arrests).

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) community-based mentoring (CBM) program for prevention of crime and delinquency/conduct problems, including risk and protective factors for these outcomes. Participants will be recruited from 16 BBBSA affiliates, which are located in different regions of the U.S. and were invited to serve as sites for the study using a random selection process. The study sample will consist of approximately 2,500 youth ages 10-16 whose parents seek services from one of the participating BBBSA affiliates during the study enrollment period and for whom consent/assent to participate in the research is obtained. Enrolled youth will be randomly assigned to participate in the CBM program (treatment group) or to a control group (no BBBSA programming during the youth's 4-year period of study participation). Youth will be assigned in a 3:1 ratio to the treatment and control groups. Youth and parents will complete survey measures both at study enrollment, prior to notification of assignment to control or treatment group, and 18 months later. Official records of police/court contact (e.g., arrests), with separate parent/guardian consent as provided at study enrollment, will be obtained both for the period preceding each youth's enrollment in the study and for a 4-year period following enrollment.

The study has 4 specific aims:

1. To determine the effects of participation in the Big Brothers Big Sisters CBM program on youth offending as measured by police/court records, i.e., person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense.

2. To determine the effects of participation in the BBBS CBM program on the likelihood of youths' involvement in delinquent behavior/conduct problems as assessed by youth and parent reports.

3. To determine the effects of BBBS CBM program participation on the likelihood of youths' involvement in substance use as assessed by self-reports of alcohol use to point of drunkenness, tobacco, or illicit drug use.

4. To determine the effects of BBBS CBM program participation on both risk and protective factors for delinquent/criminal behavior, such as aggression, depressive symptoms, association with deviant peers, self-control, and school connectedness, as assessed by youth and/or parent reports, and to explore the role of these effects in mediating effects of program participation on offending, delinquent behavior, and substance use.

Conditions

Crime; Juvenile Delinquency

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

BBBS Community-Based Mentoring

Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

One-to-one mentoring provided by an adult volunteer with training and ongoing monitoring and support from program staff.

Control

Not eligible to participate in a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program, but may participate in other mentoring programs.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program

One-to-one mentoring provided by an adult volunteer with training and ongoing monitoring and support from program staff.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• youth is 10 years of age or older
• youth is likely to be eligible for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring program as determined by initial assessment of program staff

Exclusion Criteria

• youth has a severe learning, cognitive or other intellectual disability as reported by the parent
• parent does not both speak and read either English or Spanish
• youth does not have a sibling who is already a study participant
• youth has been matched with a Big Brother/Sister through one of the affiliate's programs in the past
• youth has a sibling currently receiving services from the affiliate for whom services were initiated (i.e., inquiry was made) prior to start of the study
• youth belongs to a group that the affiliate is excluding from study participation based on previous agreement with the research team
• youth is designated as an exception case by affiliate staff (each affiliate will have the opportunity to exclude up to 4% of study-eligible youth from the research prior to consent and random assignment for any reason deemed appropriate (e.g., perceived high need of the youth))

• Minimum Eligible Age: 10 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Laura and John Arnold Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Herrera Consulting Group, LLC

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Illinois at Chicago

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

David DuBois

Professor of Community Health Sciences

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

David L DuBois, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Illinois at Chicago

Carla Herrera, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Herrera Consulting Group, LLC

Locations

University of Illinois at Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Countries

United States

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Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Study Documents

Document Type: Individual Participant Data Set

View Document

Other Identifiers

2017-0291

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id