OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine whether receiving counseling services reduced future offending in a group of seriously delinquent youths through a process of chaining. In this process, a youth's perceived certainty of punishment and an increase in their cognitive agency or control mediated the services-offending relationship. HYPOTHESIS The main hypothesis was that where perceptions of certainty preceded cognitive agency beliefs (perceived certainty → cognitive agency), the (target) pathway would be significant, and where cognitive agency beliefs preceded perceptions of certainty (cognitive agency → perceived certainty), the (comparison) pathway would be nonsignificant. The difference between the target and comparison pathways was also predicted to be significant. METHOD This study modeled change in 1,354 (1,170 boys, 184 girls) justice-involved youths from the Pathways to Desistance study. The number of counseling services accessed by a participant within 6 months of the baseline (Wave 1) interview served as the independent variable, and self-reported offending 12-18 months later (Wave 4) served as the dependent variable. Perceived certainty of punishment and cognitive agency were cross-lagged at Waves 2 and 3 and served as mediators. RESULTS Consistent with the research hypothesis, results showed that the total indirect effect from services to delinquency through perceived certainty and cognitive agency was significant, the total indirect effect from services to cognitive agency to perceived certainty was nonsignificant, and the difference between the two effects was significant. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that turning points do not have to be major life events to bring about desistance and that chaining in which perceptions of certainty precede cognitive agency beliefs may play a vital role in the change process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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咨询服务通过改变确定性感知和认知代理信念导致停止。

目标 本研究的目的是确定接受咨询服务是否通过连锁过程减少了一组严重犯罪青年的未来犯罪。在这个过程中，青少年对惩罚的确定性和他们认知机构或控制力的增加调节了服务冒犯关系。假设 主要假设是，如果确定性感知先于认知代理信念（感知确定性→认知代理），（目标）路径将很重要，并且认知代理信念先于确定性感知（认知代理→感知确定性），（比较）途径将是不显着的。目标路径和比较路径之间的差异也被预测为显着。方法 本研究模拟了 1,354 名（1,170 名男孩，184 名女孩）来自制止之路研究中涉及正义的青年。参与者在基线（第 1 波）访谈的 6 个月内获得的咨询服务数量作为自变量，12-18 个月后（第 4 波）自我报告的违规行为作为因变量。惩罚的确定性和认知机构在第 2 波和第 3 波交叉滞后，并充当中介。结果 与研究假设一致，结果表明服务通过感知确定性和认知机构对犯罪的总间接影响显着，从服务到认知机构对感知确定性的总间接影响不显着，两者之间的差异为重要的。结论 这项研究的结果表明，转折点不一定是重大的生活事件才能导致停止，并且确定性感知先于认知代理信念的链接可能在变化过程中发挥重要作用。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。