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观念和认知机构信念来导致戒烟。


目的 本研究的目的是确定接受咨询服务是否可以通过束缚过程减少一群严重犯罪青少年未来的犯罪行为。在这个过程中，青少年感知到的惩罚的确定性以及他们认知机构或控制力的增强调节了服务冒犯关系。假设 主要假设是，当对确定性的感知先于认知机构信念（感知确定性→认知机构）时，（目标）路径将是重要的，并且当认知机构信念先于对确定性的感知（认知机构→感知确定性）时，（目标）路径将是重要的。比较）路径将不显着。预计目标途径和比较途径之间的差异也很大。方法 本研究模拟了“走向终结之路”研究中 1,354 名（1,170 名男孩，184 名女孩）参与正义的青少年的变化。参与者在基线（第 1 波）访谈后 6 个月内接受咨询服务的次数作为自变量，12-18 个月后（第 4 波）自我报告的犯罪行为作为因变量。惩罚的感知确定性和认知机构在第 2 波和第 3 波中交叉滞后，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代理对犯罪的总间接影响显着，认知代理服务对感知确定性的间接总影响不显着，两种影响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生活事件才能带来终止，并且确定性感知先于认知机构信念的连锁可能在变化过程中发挥至关重要的作用。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。