An interventional study of FHF-T in Child Abuse, Child Neglect and Risk Behavior, sponsored by University of Denver. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 13 Years to 16 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-29.
Sponsored by University of Denver · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This study will implement and evaluate a mentoring program designed to promote positive youth development and reduce adverse outcomes among maltreated adolescents with open child welfare cases. Teenagers who have been maltreated are at heightened risk for involvement in delinquency, substance use, and educational failure as a result of disrupted attachments with caregivers and exposure to violence within their homes and communities. Although youth mentoring is a widely used prevention approach nationally, it has not been rigorously studied for its effects in preventing these adverse outcomes among maltreated youth involved in the child welfare system. This randomized controlled trial will permit us to implement and evaluate the Fostering Healthy Futures for Teens (FHF-T) program, which will use mentoring and skills training within an innovative positive youth development (PYD) framework to promote adaptive functioning and prevent adverse outcomes. Graduate student mentors will deliver 9 months of prevention programming in teenagers' homes and communities. Mentors will focus on helping youth set and reach goals that will improve their functioning in five targeted "REACH" domains: Relationships, Education, Activities, Career, and Health. In reaching those goals, mentors will help youth build social-emotional skills associated with preventing adverse outcomes (e.g., emotion regulation, communication, problem solving). The randomized controlled trial will enroll 234 racially and ethnically diverse 8th and 9th grade youth (117 intervention, 117 control), who will provide data at baseline prior to randomization, immediately post-program and 15 months post program follow-up. The aims of the study include testing the efficacy of FHF-T for high-risk 8th and 9th graders in preventing adverse outcomes and examining whether better functioning in positive youth development domains mediates intervention effects. It is hypothesized that youth randomly assigned to the FHF-T prevention condition, relative to youth assigned to the control condition, will evidence better functioning on indices of positive youth development in the REACH domains leading to better long-term outcomes, including adaptive functioning, high school graduation, career attainment/employment, healthy relationships, and quality of life.
Exclusion Criteria:
9 months of 1:1 youth mentoring by graduate-student mentors; workshops; educational advocacy
Behavioral: FHF-T
Services as usual
FHF-T employs mentoring, consisting of relationship development, advocating for and empowering youth, and skill-building activities to promote positive youth development. Mentors meet individually for 2-3 hours per week for 30 weeks with each teen they mentor, in order to engage teens in positive youth development activities and provide skills training in areas including emotion recognition, perspective-taking, problem solving, effective communication, managing anger, healthy coping and resisting peer pressure for deviant activities. Youth also attend group workshops over the course of the program, in which they engage with other participants and mentors in skill-building activities.
Court filings for delinquency immediately post intervention
Presence of a court filing in administrative records for delinquent behavior
Time frame: immediately post-intervention (T2)
Court filings for delinquency 15 months-post intervention
Presence of a court filing in administrative records for delinquent behavior
Time frame: 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Self-reported delinquency immediately post intervention
The Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors, will assess any delinquency, number of types of delinquency, any violent delinquency, and any non-violent delinquency
Time frame: immediately post-intervention (T2)
Self-reported delinquency 15 months-post intervention
The Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors, will assess any delinquency, number of types of delinquency, any violent delinquency, and any non-violent delinquency
Time frame: 15-months-post intervention (T3)
School suspensions immediately post intervention
Any youth reported school suspensions, assessed by the Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors
Time frame: immediately post-intervention (T2)
School suspensions 15 months-post intervention
Any youth reported school suspensions, assessed by the Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors
Time frame: 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Substance use immediately post intervention
Self-reported number of types and frequency of substance use as assessed by the substance use scale of the Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors
Time frame: immediately post-intervention (T2)
Substance use 15 months-post intervention
Self-reported number of types and frequency of substance use as assessed by the substance use scale of the Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors
Time frame: 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Passing grades immediately post intervention
Youth report of passing all core academic courses, as assessed via researcher developed educational measure
Time frame: immediately post-intervention (T2)
Passing grades 15 months-post intervention
Youth report of passing all core academic courses, as assessed via researcher developed educational measure
Time frame: 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Quality of Life
Self-reported mean quality of life as measured by the Life Satisfaction Scale (Andrews \& Withey, 1976)
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Extracurricular activity involvement
Self-reported number and frequency of extracurricular activity involvement will be measured by The Activities Scale, a project-designed measure.
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Connectedness to school
Self-reported school connection will be measured by the mean score on the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (Goodenow, 1993) which assesses attachment and emotional response to a school environment.
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Academic achievement
Academic Achievement will be assessed using standard scores on The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Screener (WIAT Screener; Psychological Corporation, 1992).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Perceived Opportunities
Self-reported perceived opportunities will be assessed using mean scores on the Perceived Opportunities scale of the Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Trauma symptoms
Self-reported trauma symptoms will be assessed using mean total and subscale scores of the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC; Briere, 1996).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Internalizing symptoms
Self-reported internalizing symptoms will be assessed using the mean score on the internalizing subscale of The Youth Self Report (YSR; Achenbach, 2001).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Externalizing symptoms
Self-reported externalizing symptoms will be assessed using the mean score on the externalizing subscale of The Youth Self Report (YSR; Achenbach, 2001).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Dating violence
Self-reported dating violence will be measured by The Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI; Wolfe, Scott, Wekerle, \& Pittman, 2001).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Coping skills
Self-reported coping skills will be measured using the mean scores on the subscales of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist (Program for Prevention Research, 1999).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Conflict management skills
Self-reported conflict management skills will be measured using the mean score on the conflict management subscale of the Safe Dates Evaluation Questionnaire (Foshee, Bauman, Bennett, Suchindran, Benefield, \& Linder, 2005).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Self-efficacy
Self-reported self-efficacy will be measured by the mean score on the Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (Cowen, Work, Hightower, Wyman, Parker, \& Ltyczewski, 1991).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Resiliency
Self-reported resiliency will be measured using standardized scores on The Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA; Prince-Embury, 2006, 2007).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Help seeking behaviors
Self-reported help seeking will be measured by the number of identified social network members from whom the youth seek help and the frequency of seeking help on The Help Seeking Behaviors Scale (Pham, Y. K., McWhirter, E. H., \& Murray, C., 2014).
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Use of protection while having sex
Self-report of using protection while having sex, assessed by the Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (ARBS), a youth-report measure that assesses engagement in risk behaviors
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2) and 15-months-post intervention (T3)
Plan to share: Yes
Supporting information: Study protocol, Analytic code
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University of Denver