Continuation of Dissemination and Archiving of Pittsburgh Youth Study Data

OJJDP's Demonstration Programs Division Grants were established to provide grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance to organizations. This program is authorized by the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Pub. L. 112-110.

The Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS) is a longitudinal examination of the course of delinquency, substance use, and mental health problems in three samples of males. The samples were randomly drawn in 1987-88 from boys enrolled in the public schools in Pittsburgh, and after a screening procedure to increase the prevalence of high risk youth, have been regularly followed since then. The researchers will engage in four activities pertaining to the Pittsburgh Youth Study and the larger Program on the Correlates and Causes of Delinquency. In consultation with OJJDP staff, the researchers will continue the process of preparing the PYS data files for archiving at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) and convey the first five years of data to NACJD. Second, the researchers will improve dissemination of the findings from the PYS by means of (a) the creation of a website dedicated to disseminating the findings of the three longitudinal studies under the Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency, and (b) the preparation of four policy briefs based on key findings. Third, the investigators will conduct secondary data analyses both independently and in collaboration with the other two Causes and Correlates sites. Finally, to improve policy-related analyses, the investigators will collect additional data such as FBI data, 2010 Census data, and community-level data assembled by the University Center of Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh.

NCA/NCF

OJJDP has a specific mission to develop and disseminate knowledge about what works to prevent juvenile delinquency and violence and improve the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5601 et seq authorizes the Administrator of OJJDP to conduct research or evaluations and undertake statistical analyses on a wide range of juvenile justice matters. OJJDP also provides funding to states and localities to carry out research, evaluation, and statistical analyses.

The Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS) is a longitudinal examination of the course of delinquency, substance use, and mental health problems in three samples of males. The samples were randomly drawn in 1987-88 from boys enrolled in the public schools in Pittsburgh, and after a screening procedure to increase the prevalence of high risk youth, have been regularly followed since then.

University of Pittsburgh will collaborate with the other two projects of OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency through the establishment of a secure enclave at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). This collaborative process between the three Causes and Correlates projects with NACJD will substantially increase the utility of the data and potential yield of secondary analysis particularly with respect to cross-site comparison of key variables, data aggregation, and examination of lower frequency variables and occurrences.

Funding under this supplemental award will support the continued preparation and transfer of the Pittsburgh Youth Study raw data to NACJD. In consultation with OJJDP staff, the research team will continue the process of preparing the Pittsburgh Youth Study data files for archiving. The first five years of raw data have already been conveyed to NACJD, and this supplemental award will focus on finalization of the first five years of constructs made from the raw data to NACJD. In addition, the researchers will set up new contracts between the University of Pittsburgh and NACJD for data collected using funds from other agencies and data collected from other sources, such as Children and Youth Services, schools and the court system. The researchers will also finalize the conditions under which other researchers can access and use the data lodged at NACJD.

NCA/NCF

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for research and evaluation activities to organizations that OJJDP designates.

This proposal is designed to facilitate the continued transfer of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS) raw data to the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). In consultation with OJJDP staff, the PYS research team will continue the process of preparing raw data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study data files for archiving. The study consists of multiple follow-up assessments of 1,517 male participants, who were first assessed when in first grade (N = 503, called the youngest sample), fourth grade (N = 508, called the middle sample), and seventh grade (N = 506, called the oldest sample). Participants in the youngest and oldest samples have been reassessed most often, 19 and 17 times, respectively. Participants in the middle sample were followed up 7 times until age 13, and once more at age 23.

Taking into account prior experience with the data cleaning process, the researchers have determined that it takes approximately one month to clean one entire assessment wave of data. As such, the researchers plan to: (1) convey the finalization of 12 additional assessment waves of raw data collected as part of the Pittsburgh Youth Study in the next 12 months; (2) provide supporting documentation to NACJD, such as electronic copies and references for each study measure; (3) finalize contracts between the University of Pittsburgh and NACJD to archive data collected using funds from other sources besides OJJDP; and (4) finalize the conditions under which users can access and use the data lodged at NACJD. Progress on the primary project goals will documented by the submission of one phase of raw data to NACJD at the end of each month over the course of the award period.

NCA/NCF

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for research and evaluation activities to organizations that OJJDP designates.

This proposal is designed to facilitate the transfer of raw data and selected constructs from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS) to the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). The PYS consists of multiple follow-up assessments of 1,517 male participants initially recruited when they were in the first (N = 503, called the youngest sample), fourth (N = 508, called the middle sample), and seventh (N = 506, called the oldest sample) grades. The data that will be lodged includes all raw data and select study constructs for all consecutive six month and yearly assessments that were collected for the youngest (17 waves total), middle (7 waves total), and oldest (16 waves total) cohorts. The focus for the upcoming 2014-2015 budget year will be to lodge the remaining four waves of raw data for the oldest cohort and key constructs indexing seven different life domains for the last nine assessments conducted with the youngest and oldest cohorts, thereby completing the data archiving project. The process of cleaning and checking raw data, construct files, and associated syntax files to ensure quality and accuracy takes approximately one month per assessment wave for raw data and one month per life domain for construct files. In addition to lodging these data and syntax files, electronic copies of the questionnaires that were administered and appropriate references will be transferred to the NACJD. All transferred files will be reviewed for clarity, accuracy, and adherence to archiving standards by Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) staff, and any problems that arise will be resolved in collaboration with the PYS data management team. Contracts regarding the conditions under which users can access the data lodged at NACJD and a timeline for data release will be finalized.

NCA/NCF