Highlights
- Program Type: Intervention
- Ages: 6-12
- Effectiveness: Effective delinquency program (Read the criteria for this rating)
The SNAP® (Stop Now And Plan) Under 12 Outreach Project (SNAP®) is a specialized, family-focused intervention for boys and girls under age 12 who display aggressive and antisocial behavior problems. The SNAP screening and assessment procedures involve two interviews at intake—one with the child and one with the parent/guardian. In addition, boys are evaluated with the Early Assessment Risk List for Boys (known as EARL–20B), a risk-assessment tool for use with aggressive and delinquent boys under 12. The assessment determines the unique treatment needs of boys and their families. SNAP® ORP employs a multisystemic approach, combining interventions that target the child, the family, the school, and the community. The program uses a variety of established interventions that are organized around SNAP®: skills training, training in cognitive problem-solving, self-control strategies, cognitive self-instruction, family management skills training, and parent training.
The SNAP model is recognized as one of the “most extensively developed, longest sus-tained, empirically based intervention specifically for pre-offender youth under the age of 12” (Augimeri et al., 2011, p. 127). Randomized controlled trials demonstrate that SNAP reduces anxiety, depression, aggression, conduct problems and overall externalizing behaviors (Burke & Loeber, 2014) while improving emotion regulation, problem solving, pro-social behavior, and reducing parental stress (Burke & Loeber, 2015). Cost benefit analysis has also shown SNAP to be a cost effective early intervention program for reducing crime (Farrington & Koegl, 2015). The target population served by SNAP is children engaging in above-average levels (clinical range on standardized measures) of aggressive, disruptive, or other antisocial behaviors.
Risk Factors
Individual
Antisocial/delinquent beliefs
Conduct disorders (authority conflict/rebellious/stubborn/disruptive/antisocial)
Early and persistent noncompliant behavior
Early onset of aggression/violence
General delinquency involvement
High alcohol/drug use
Hyperactivity/impulsivity
Lack of guilt and empathy
Low intelligence quotient
Low perceived likelihood of being caught
Low psychosocial maturity (low temperance, responsibility, and perspective)
Mental health problems
Poor refusal skills
Victim of child maltreatment
Victimization and exposure to violence
Family
Abusive parents
Antisocial parents
Broken home/changes in caretaker
Child maltreatment (abuse or neglect)
Family poverty/low family socioeconomic status
Family violence (child maltreatment, partner violence, conflict)
High parental stress/maternal depression
Parent proviolent attitudes
Parental use of physical punishment/harsh and/or erratic discipline practices
Poor parental supervision (control, monitoring, and child management)
Poor parent-child relations or communication
Unhappy parents
School
Bullying
Frequent school transitions
Frequent truancy/absences/suspensions; expelled from school; dropping out of school
Identified as learning disabled
Low academic aspirations
Low achievement in school
Low school attachment/bonding/motivation/commitment to school
Old for grade/repeated a grade
Poor student-teacher relations
Poorly defined rules and expectations for appropriate conduct
Student failure in the first grade
Community
Availability of firearms
Community disorganization
Economic deprivation/poverty/residence in a disadvantaged neighborhood
Feeling unsafe in the neighborhood
Low neighborhood attachment
Neighborhood youth in trouble
Peer
Association with antisocial/aggressive/delinquent peers; high peer delinquency
Peer rejection
Endorsements
Crime Solutions: Effective
Contact
Leena K. Augimeri, Ph.D.
Child Development Institute
46 St. Clair Gardens
Toronto, ON M6E 3V4
CANADA
Phone: (416) 603-1827, Ext. 3112
Fax: (416) 654-8996
E-mail: [email protected]
References
Augimeri, L. K., Farrington, D. P., Koegl, C. J., & Day, D. M. (2007). The Under 12 Outreach Project: Effects of a Community Based Program for Children with Conduct Problems. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 799–807.
Augimeri, L.K., Walsh, M.M, Liddon, A.D., & Dassinger, C. R. (2011). From risk identification to risk management: A comprehensive strategy for young children engaged in antisocial behavior. In D. W. Springer and A. Roberts, (Eds), Juvenile Justice and Delinquency (pp. 117 – 140). United States: Jones & Bartlett.
Burke, J.D. and Loeber, R. (2014). The effectiveness of the Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) Program for boys at risk for violence and delinquency. Prevention Science, 16, 242-253.
Burke, J. D., & Loeber, R. (2015). Mechanisms of behavioral and affective treatment outcomes in a cognitive behavioral intervention for boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s10802-015-9975-0.
Farrington, D. P. and Koegl, C. J. (2015). Monetary benefits and costs of the Stop Now And Plan program for boys aged 6–11, based on the prevention of later offending. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 31, 263-287.
Lipman, Ellen L., Kenny, M., Sniderman, C., O’Grady, S., Augimeri, L.K., Khayutin, S., and Boyle, M. H. (2008). Evaluation of a Community-Based Program for Young Boys At-Risk of Antisocial Behavior: Results and Issues. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 17, 12–19.