An Affect Management Intervention for Juvenile Offenders

Adolescents are at risk for HIV because of sexual and drug behavior initiated during this developmental period. Adolescents in the juvenile justice system are at increased risk for HIV due to higher rates of substance use and psychopathology than their non-offending peers. Juvenile justice youth may therefore also be less likely to benefit from frequently used skills based interventions. It appears that emotional lability, frequently found in this population, disrupts skills learned. This project will implement and evaluate an affect management HIV prevention intervention for adolescents in a juvenile drug court program. Affect management and general health promotion interventions will be compared to determine which intervention best reduces risk behavior among adolescents in the drug court.