A Follow-up Report on the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study

Abstract

The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study was founded in 1935 with the double purpose of preventing delin quency and providing research in the area of delinquency pre vention. 325 boys were selected to receive preventive treat ment, and a carefully matched group of 325 boys were provided as a control group. The treatment program utilized many of the practices prevalent in welfare work: family guidance, medical and academic assistance, co-ordination of community agencies, and supplementary entertainment for the boys. This article traces into adulthood the lives of 253 of the "treat ment" boys and their 253 matched mates in the control group. Although the boys were counseled for an average of five years, whatever benefits they may have received were not reflected in their criminal rates: As many treated boys as control boys had been convicted of crimes; they had com mitted approximately equal numbers of crimes and did not differ significantly in the ages when such crimes were com mitted. Nevertheless, evidence gleaned from this program suggests that early treatment and intensive contact with the boy may be an effective means toward crime prevention.