Deviant Peer Influences in Programs for Youth: Problems and Solutions

Kenneth A. Dodge, PhD, is the William McDougall Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology at Duke University, where he directs the Center for Child and Family Policy. He has teamed up with colleagues to create, implement, and evaluate the Fast Track Program to prevent chronic violence in high-risk children and the Durham Family Initiative to prevent child abuse. He has been honored with the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the Boyd McCandless Award, and the Senior Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health.

Thomas J. Dishion, PhD, is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Research at the Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon. His interests include understanding the development of antisocial behavior and substance abuse in youth and designing effective interventions and prevention programs. He focuses on family-centered interventions and the negative effects of aggregating high-risk youth into intervention groups. He has published over 90 scientific reports on these topics, a book for parents on family management, and two books for professionals.

Jennifer E. Lansford, PhD, is a Research Scientist at the Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy. Her research focuses on the development of aggression and other behavior problems in youth, with an emphasis on how family and peer contexts contribute to or protect against these outcomes. She examines how experiences with parents (e.g., physical abuse, divorce) and peers (e.g., rejection, friendships) affect the development of children's behavior problems, how influence operates in adolescent peer groups, and how cultural contexts moderate links between parents' discipline strategies and children's behavior problems.