AzTrials
AzTrials

CrimeNCT03495635

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

A study testing Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program in people with Crime and Juvenile Delinquency, run by University of Illinois Chicago at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
Search all trials

Trial 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. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 10 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Crime, Juvenile Delinquency
What is being tested?
Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
1,361 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
2 Feb 2018to 30 Jun 2025
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 10 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • 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

Who cannot join

  • 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))

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site

  • University of Illinois at Chicago

    Chicago, Illinois, 60608

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Randomized Controlled Trial of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program for Prevention of Crime and Juvenile Delinquency

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).

Read the 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.
Being tested
Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
Keywords
mentoring, prevention

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring ProgramBehavioural

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

Study groups in NCT03495635
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
BBBS Community-Based MentoringExperimentalBig Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
Receives: Behavioral: Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program
ControlNo interventionNot eligible to participate in a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program, but may participate in other mentoring programs.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Arrest

    0/1 indicator based on official police/court/juvenile office records of any of the following types of offenses-person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense

    Measured: 4 years

  2. Arrest

    0/1 indicator based on official police/court/juvenile office records of any of the following types of offenses-person offense, property offense, drug law violation, public order offense, or status offense

    Measured: 18 months

  3. Delinquency

    0/1 indicator based on youth and parent report using 13 items from the Add Health Study (Bearman et al., 1997)

    Measured: 18 months

  4. Substance use

    0/1 indicator based on youth report of alcohol use to point of drunkenness, tobacco, or illicit drug use

    Measured: 18 months

Secondary outcomes (31)

  1. Truancy

    3-item youth-report measure (2 items from Herrera et al., 2013)

    Measured: 18 months

  2. Association with deviant peers

    A single measure computed as the average of scores on continuous youth-report measure (Elliott et al., 1996) and one-item (0/1) parent-report indicator from Youth Risk Index (Herrera et al., 2013) after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.

    Measured: 18 months

  3. School suspensions

    One-item (0/1) parent-report indicator from Youth Risk Index (Herrera et al., 2013)

    Measured: 18 months

  4. Depressive symptoms

    Depressive Symptoms Pediatric Self-Report - Short Form from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) (Irwin et al., 2010). Lower scores indicate a better outcome

    Measured: 18 months

  5. Impulsivity

    A single measure computed as the average of scores on continuous youth- and parent-report scales (Hay \& Meldrum, 2010) after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.

    Measured: 18 months

  6. Conventional values

    Belief in the Moral Order scale of the Communities That Care Youth Survey (Arthur et al., 2002)

    Measured: 18 months

  7. Aggressive behavior

    A single measure computed as the average of scores on youth-report Aggression Scale (Orpinas \& Frankowski, 2001) and parent-report Parent's Checklist from the Fast Track Project: https://fasttrackproject.org/techrept/p/pcl/ after each score has been standardized to mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.

    Measured: 18 months

  8. Academic success

    4-item measure of grades in core subjects (Herrera et al., 2013)

    Measured: 18 months

  9. Positive parenting

    Parent-report Positive Parenting subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)

    Measured: 18 months

  10. Parent involvement

    Parent-report Involvement subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)

    Measured: 18 months

  11. Parental monitoring and supervision

    Parent-report Poor Monitoring/Supervision subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)

    Measured: 18 months

  12. Parental consistent discipline

    Parent-report Inconsistent Discipline subscale from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Essau et al., 2006)

    Measured: 18 months

  13. Family relationships

    Parent-report General Functioning scale of the Family Assessment Device (Epstein et al., 1983)

    Measured: 18 months

  14. Perceived social support from family members

    Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Family Members subscale

    Measured: 18 months

  15. Perceived social support from peers

    Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Peers subscale

    Measured: 18 months

  16. Perceived social support from special person

    Youth-report Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988): Significant Others subscale

    Measured: 18 months

  17. School engagement

    Youth-report Behavioral Engagement subscale of the Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning Scale (Skinner et al., 2009)

    Measured: 18 months

  18. Goal-setting and pursuit

    Parent-report Goal Orientation scale from Child Trends: https://www.childtrends.org/research/research-by-topic/positive-indicators-project/goal-orientation/

    Measured: 18 months

  19. Involvement in out-of-school-time activities

    Parent-report (Herrera et al., 2007)

    Measured: 18 months

  20. Volunteering in the community

    Youth-report single-item (Herrera et al., 2013)

    Measured: 18 months

  21. Life satisfaction

    Youth-report single-item measure from WHO's 2005-06 Health Behaviors in School Age Children Survey: http://filer.uib.no/psyfa/HEMIL-senteret/HBSC/2006_Mandatory_Questionnaire.pdf

    Measured: 18 months

  22. Self-esteem

    Youth-report Global Self-Esteem subscale of brief version of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (DuBois et al., 1996; Silverthorn et al., 2017)

    Measured: 18 months

  23. Happiness

    Youth-report Positive Affect Pediatric Self-Report - Short Form from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) (Forrest et al., 2017)

    Measured: 18 months

  24. Grit

    Youth-report Grit Scale for Children (Duckworth \& Quinn, 2009)

    Measured: 18 months

  25. Social competence

    Social Competencies Scale of the Youth Outcome Measures Online Toolbox (Muris, 2001)

    Measured: 18 months

  26. Special interest development

    Youth-report (adapted from DuBois \& Keller, 2017)

    Measured: 18 months

  27. Hopeful future expectations

    Youth-report abbreviated version of the Hopeful Future Expectations Scale (Bowers et al., 2012)

    Measured: 18 months

  28. Career exploration

    Youth-report 2 items (adapted from Herrera et al., 2011)

    Measured: 18 months

  29. College exploration

    Youth-report 1 item (adapted from Herrera et al., 2011)

    Measured: 18 months

  30. Self-advocacy

    Youth-report (Jarjoura et al., 2017)

    Measured: 18 months

  31. Coping efficacy

    Youth-report 1 item adapted from Coping Efficacy Scale (Sandler et al., 2000)

    Measured: 18 months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted12 Apr 2018
  2. Study start2 Feb 2018
  3. Primary completion30 Jun 2025
  4. Study completion30 Jun 2025

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
Enrolled participants will be assigned randomly to participate in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program (treatment group) or to a wait-list control group that is not eligible to participate in the program for a period of 4 years.
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Investigator
Enrolment
1,361 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03495635
Sponsor's protocol ID
2017-0291
Status last verified
Jan 2026
First submitted
4 Jan 2018
Last updated
22 Jan 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: At the study's conclusion, all individual participant data will be de-identified and made publicly available on the Open Science Framework website along with survey instruments and any code used to clean and analyze the data.

Publications

  • Arthur MW, Hawkins JD, Pollard JA, Catalano RF, Baglioni AJ Jr. Measuring risk and protective factors for substance use, delinquency, and other adolescent problem behaviors. The Communities That Care Youth Survey. Eval Rev. 2002 Dec;26(6):575-601. doi: 10.1177/0193841X0202600601.

    PubMed 12465571

  • Bearman, P. S., Jones, J., & Udry, J. R. (1997). The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research design. Retrieved from http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth.

  • Bowers, E. P., Geldhof, G. J., Schmid, K. L., Napolitano, C. M., Minor, K., & Lerner, J. V. (2012). Relationships with important nonparental adults and positive youth development: An examination of youth self-regulatory strengths as mediators. Research in Human Development, 9, 298-316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2012.729911

  • DuBois, D. L., Felner, R. D., Brand, S., Phillips, R. S. C., & Lease, A. M. (1996). Early adolescent self-esteem: A developmental-ecological framework and assessment strategy. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6, 543-579.

  • DuBois DL, Keller TE. Investigation of the Integration of Supports for Youth Thriving Into a Community-Based Mentoring Program. Child Dev. 2017 Sep;88(5):1480-1491. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12887. Epub 2017 Jun 19.

    PubMed 28626886

  • Duckworth AL, Quinn PD. Development and validation of the short grit scale (grit-s). J Pers Assess. 2009 Mar;91(2):166-74. doi: 10.1080/00223890802634290.

    PubMed 19205937

  • Essau, C. A., Sasagawa, S., & Frick, P. J. (2006). Psychometric properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 597-616.

  • Epstein, N. B., Baldwin, L. M., & Bishop, D. S. (1983). The McMaster Family Assessment Device. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9, 171-180.

  • Herrera C, Grossman JB, Kauh TJ, McMaken J. Mentoring in schools: an impact study of big brothers big sisters school-based mentoring. Child Dev. 2011 Jan-Feb;82(1):346-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01559.x.

    PubMed 21291446

  • Herrera, C., Linden, L. L., Arbreton, J. A. & Grossman, J. B. (2011). Testing the impact of Higher Achievement's year-round out-of-school-time program on academic outcomes. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.

  • Irwin DE, Stucky B, Langer MM, Thissen D, Dewitt EM, Lai JS, Varni JW, Yeatts K, DeWalt DA. An item response analysis of the pediatric PROMIS anxiety and depressive symptoms scales. Qual Life Res. 2010 May;19(4):595-607. doi: 10.1007/s11136-010-9619-3. Epub 2010 Mar 7.

    PubMed 20213516

  • Jarjoura, G. R. et al. (2017). The Evaluation of The Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research. Manuscript in preparation.

  • Muris, P. (2001). A brief questionnaire for measuring self-efficacy in youths. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 145-149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1010961119608

  • Orpinas P, & Frankowski R. (2001). The aggression scale: a self-report measure of aggressive behavior for young adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 21, 51-68.

  • Sandler IN, Tein JY, Mehta P, Wolchik S, Ayers T. Coping efficacy and psychological problems of children of divorce. Child Dev. 2000 Jul-Aug;71(4):1099-118. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00212.

    PubMed 11016569

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program in people with Crime and Juvenile Delinquency, run by University of Illinois Chicago at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 7 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 Jan 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Arrest (time frame: 4 years). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03495635, which also lists 20 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 Jan 2026.

AzTrials uses cookies for analytics and advertising. You can accept or reject them; the site works either way. Privacy Policy.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in