Cooperation In Group Treatment Programs for Incarcerated Adolescents

Group treatment programs for incarcerated adolescents attempt to use the social influence of peer groups as a means both for generating acceptance of treatment goals and for creating pro‐social change. On the basis of social psychological research in laboratory and educational settings, we predicted that group cooperation plays a pivotal role in these programs. A hypothesized path model was estimated through pooled time series and cross section analysis of three waves of data for 45 groups at four institutions. There was close agreement between path estimates from an analysis of average levels and an analysis of change, and both strongly supported the hypothesized model. Results indicate that coercive control decreases cooperation and that cooperation leads to attraction to the group and prevents delinquent norms. Cooperation also has an indirect effect on acceptance of the program, mediated by attraction to the group.