Girls Circle has been selected by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as one of a few gender-responsive programs to be evaluated for its impact on girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system. Evaluators at Development Services Group, Inc., in partnership with Cook County Probation Department, Chicago, Illinois, will complete this three-year study by end of 2014.
Girls in Juvenile Justice are Communicating More with Adults, Have Improved Body Image and More Confidence; High Satisfaction Rates; and the Highest program completion rates. These are significant outcomes of the “Circles Across Sonoma” Title II Gender-responsive Program, 2007-2010, evaluated by Ceres Policy Research.
View a Brief Summary of Findings or Download the Full Report.
Findings from our 2007 Research Effort
PHASE 1 — Girls Circle National Research Project
In school year 2006-2007, fifteen collaborating organizations partnered with Ceres Policy Research to study the short and long term outcomes for girls in Girls Circle groups (Irvine, Roa, Cervantez, 2007). 278 girls of diverse ethnicities in nineteen cities across the United States completed pre and post surveys, utilizing the Girls Circle Survey. Settings included schools, community sites, juvenile justice and residential settings, and served girls ages 10 – 18 years of age.
Girls Circle participants’s surveys revealed statistically significant improvement for girls in four long-term outcomes:
- A decrease in self-harming behavior.
- A decrease in rates of alcohol use¹.
- An increase in attachment to school.
- An increase in self-efficacy.
Additionally, girls’ surveys revealed significant increases in six skills developed over the short-term:
- Finding things they have in common with a new person.
- Trying to see beyond girls' reputations.
- Telling adults what they need.
- Feeling good about their body.
- Picking friends that treat them the way they want to be treated.
- Telling people how much they mean to them.
In addition, results indicated significant gains in self-efficacy.
The study found that Girls Circle groups benefit girls nearly equally across the subgroups of populations represented, including girls with no history of school problems, girls in juvenile justice programs, foster youth, and LGBT youth. Overall, Girls Circle participants were very satisfied with their groups and their facilitators.
For More Information about this study, read the Final Report in PDF format (8/21/07).
¹ There were two separate alcohol use questions that showed a decrease in use.
 Girls Circle Revised Evaluation Tool Kit,
with a gender-relevant measurement tool designed specifically for use with Girls Circle programs.
 $79
This revised survey integrates the validated Schwarzer’s Self-Efficacy instrument and is for use with any combination of the Girls Circle Activity Guides. Includes instructions for independent evaluation of your own female adolescent programs, criteria for collaboration with the Girls Circle Association on national research of the Girls Circle Model, Consent Forms, Information Sheet, and Girls Circle Survey included. Spanish Language Survey and forms also included. Reproducible within purchasing organizations. For internal evaluations, programs will need a statistician for t-tests. A Younger Girls Revised Survey which has no reference to drugs, alcohol, or sex has also been developed and is currently available by request to organizations that have obtained the Girls Circle Revised Evaluation Tool Kit. Contact our offices at: info@girlscircle.com or by calling (707) 794-9477.
| The Girls Circle Survey Measures: |
 School attachment
Avoiding Self-Harm
Positive Body Image
Avoiding Tobacco and Alcohol
Communicating Needs to Adults |
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* The Self-Efficacy measurement is a Schwarzer’s validated, integrated instrument.
Is Girls Circle an evidenced-based program?
Girls Circle is designed in the evidence-based principles of Motivational Interviewing and Strengths-Based approaches that target resiliency and protective factors, in addition to stimulating critical thinking and moral reasoning through experiential activities and guided discussions. READ MORE
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Research-Based,
Highly Valued Program
Girls Circle is recognized as a “promising approach” in the Model Programs Guide of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Outcomes showed significant increases in self-efficacy, body image, and social connection. Visit the OJJDP Model Programs Guide.
(Promising programs display a strong theoretical base and have been demonstrated to prevent delinquency, and /or reduce/enhance risk/protective factors for delinquency using limited research and requires further experimental study.)
PREVIOUS OUTCOME STUDIES
Three quantitative studies (2004, 2005) evaluated the effectiveness of the Girls Circle as a prevention and intervention model to improve perceived social support, perceived body image, and self-efficacy, one of which analyzed the impact of the Girls Circle program for girls involved in the juvenile justice system, including girls on probation and in detention settings.
In total, 152 girls in twenty-four groups across the United States, comprising of 4 – 15 girls per group, ages 10 -18 years of age, met weekly for ten weeks using Girls Circle curricula. These groups were held in schools, community programs, juvenile detention and probation settings. Girls were of a variety of racial-ethnic backgrounds, from urban, suburban and rural areas. They completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale, and Schwarzer’s General Self-Efficacy Scale.
Download in PDF format:
OUTCOMES
Initial results revealed significant increases in perceived social support, perceived body image, and self-efficacy (Adolescence, 2006). The 2005 study which combined juvenile justice, school and prevention settings, found that girls in the juvenile justice settings are more likely to show an increase in perceived social connection (Irvine, A., 2005).
Self-Efficacy - Beliefs in one’s abilities affect important areas of adolescent development such as student identity and peer relationships.
Body Image - Perception of one’s physical appearance has been consistently recognized to be the number one factor in predicting self-esteem. Negative body image can lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, sexual difficulties, poor self-esteem, and increased suicide risk.
Perceived Social Support - Social support is defined as the experience or the perception of being cared for, valued, included, and/or guided by others, especially of one’s family, peers, and/or community members. Social support from peers, teachers, and parents has been recognized as a protective factor for children and teens.
Sources -
- Hossfeld, B., (2006). Developing Friendships and Peer Relationships: Building Social Support with the Girls Circle Program. In C. LeCroy, & J. Mann, (Eds.), Handbook of Prevention and Intervention Programs for Adolescent Girls, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. (VIEW IN PDF)
- Irvine, A., (2005), Girls Circle: Summary of Outcomes for Girls in the Juvenile Justice System (VIEW IN PDF)
- Irvine, A., Roa, J., & Cervantez, K., (2007) Girls Circle National Research Project. (VIEW IN PDF)
- Rough, J., & Matthews, G. (2005). Understanding the Intervention of Girls Circle on Friendship Quality and Self-Efficacy: A Replication and extension. Unpublished manuscript, Dominican University of California, San Rafael (VIEW IN PDF)
- Steese, S., Dollette, M., Phillips, W. Hossfeld, B., & Taormina, G. (2005). Understanding Girls’ Circle as an Intervention on Perceived Social Support, Body Image, Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control and Self-Esteem. Adolescence, Vol. 41, No. 161, Spring, 2006. (VIEW IN PDF)
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