Prediction of Crime Risk Behavior among Early Adolescences

Abstract

Previously, many literatures suggest that low social support (family, peer, school), psychological aspect (low level of resilience, coping skills, empathy, high level of depression and aggression), low level of academic achievement and school involvement activity, and involving in truancy correlate with crime risk behavior. However, only few studies in Malaysia have investigate these constructs simultaneously in a single study involving early adolescence. This study aims to examine which construct in Risky Antecedent (social support and socioeconomic status), Risky Psychology (resilience, coping skill, empathy, depression and aggression) and Marker System (truancy, academic achievement and involvement in school activity) predict involvement in crime risk behavior among early adolescence in Malaysia. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted involving all variables which were Risky Antecedent, Risky Psychology, Marker System with crime risk behavior in a sample of 1762 early adolescences from six states in Malaysia. Result shows that the most significant factor associated with crime risk behavior were aggression, truancy, involvement in school activity and lastly social support from peer. Finding from this study suggest that intervention targeting early adolescence at risk of crime risk behavior may correlate with greater impact on reduction in crime risk behavior that exclusively targeting the school as the main place to run the prevention program.