Juvenile delinquency is a significant issue that lacks understanding and research needs to be done to find possible factors, such as SES, that may play a role in the effectiveness of treatment outcomes. An important limitation of the existing research is the shortage of studies that examine the data on delinquent outcomes and to consider the possible influence of socioeconomic status (SES). In Tiernan et al. (2015), they determined that demographic factors such as socioeconomic status have been related to treatment outcomes in evidence based treatment. Research proposes that factors that may affect progress with juvenile delinquents should be carefully examined by clinicians (Tiernan et al., 2015). Importantly, not one of these studies have examined the role of socioeconomic status in the perspective of understanding MST treatment efficiency (Robinson et al., 2015). The purpose of the current study is to explore the question of: Will Multisystemic therapy be more effective in reducing juvenile delinquency in middle to high SES vs. low SES …show more content…
In Painter (2010), they found that although services are more cost effective than residential facilities, there is still a need to examine a more cost effective way for youth and their families to afford treatment. More quantitative and qualitative studies need to be explored on targeting the risk factors that may hinder the success of treatment for juvenile delinquents. Research conducted by Kohen et al. (2008), suggested that those living in low SES communities should be examined more closely because of the many factors like neighborhood disadvantage, and unhealthy development that can play a role in their completion of treatment. Alternative measures of SES need to be explored to fully understand the differential effects SES has on youth and families (Gault-Sherman, 2013). Much of the literature also limited their data to white youth, and more studies need to control for race and age to determine how consistent effects of SES are on MST treatment across these variables. In Tiernan et al. (2015) & Robinson et al. (2015) studies, no control groups were used in which the effects of MST can be compared to. Future research needs to implement a control group alongside MST to ensure the behaviors resulting from the treatment are a result of MST and not additional factors. In order to gain a full understanding of all the factors that play a role in