Adolescent Delinquent Behavior Research Articles

Sex Differences in the Influence of Relationships on Adolescent Offending

The impact of romantic relationships during the adolescent period has received significantly less attention in the literature compared to the influence of romantic relationships during adulthood. Specifically, how these influences may differ between females and males. As such, the current study uses four waves of data from the Pathways to Desistance study to examine how elements of romantic relationships, including relationship quality, monitoring, and antisocial influence, affect adolescent delinquent behaviors by sex. Results indicated several important findings regarding the desistance effects of romantic relationship quality, monitoring, and antisocial influence on adolescent violent and non-violent offending, and these varied widely by sex. Limitations, future research, and policy recommendations are discussed.

Re-Examining the Association Between Parental Monitoring, Parental Rearing Behaviors, and Family Risk Factors in Influencing Juvenile Delinquency Among Boys and Girls

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between parenting practices, parental misbehavior, sociodemographic factors, and juvenile delinquency behavior. The sample consisted of 178 adolescents, aged between 14 and 18 years. Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect data, and multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze the results. The findings revealed significant gender differences in the predictors of delinquent behavior. The predictors of delinquent behavior for boys were lack of parental monitoring, parental rejection, overprotection, father’s alcohol abuse, and mother’s drug abuse, while none of the predictors were significant for girls. These results underscore the importance of considering gender differences when exploring the factors associated with juvenile delinquency. By addressing parental misbehavior and substance abuse in a dysfunctional parental environment, psychological interventions can help prevent and reduce delinquent behavior in adolescents.

Delinquency among University Students and Parenting Attitudes in Kenya

Despite the heavy investment in education that the Kenya Government makes each year, delinquent behavior among University students continue to affect the goals of effective training and skill building. This undermines efforts at poverty alleviation and wealth creation in the country. Emerging evidence suggests that there is a correlation between University students’ demeanor and parenting behaviour in Kenya today. At a tender age of 17 many young people are thrust into the independent University world and left to fend for themselves emotionally and even physically. This invariably leads to delinquent behavior such as drug abuse and prostitution. Studies in Kenya have not fully explored the effects of parental attitude, behavior as well as the family structure on adolescent delinquent behavior. To fill this gap in knowledge, he current study has sought to explore the relationship between parental behavior, attitudes and delinquent behavior among University students in Kenya. This study has adopted a correlational study design as well as a desk review methodology. The paper recommends that family-centric intervention measures be put in place. Factors such as sensitization on the critical role the that the family structure plays in combating delinquency, strengthening of the parental role, discouraging divorce and encouraging parental involvement in the education of their children in the University must remain central.

Neighborhood Characteristics and their Association with Delinquent Behavior: A Multi-city Spatial Assessment of Juvenile Delinquency in Punjab, Pakistan

The current examination focuses on discovering the interplay between spatial variations in adolescent delinquent behavior and neighborhood characteristics in Punjab, Pakistan, across multiple cities. In literature, neighborhood divided into two section, neighborhood structure and neighborhood process. So in this research, researchers measured neighborhood process through the role of family characteristics, peer group influence, and role of mass media while neighborhood structure through spatial variation. Data collected from the juvenile housed in Bahawalpur's Borstal Institution and Juvenile jail through an interview schedule. To find out the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and juvenile delinquency, regression analysis was employed. According to the regression analysis, researcher found that neighborhood have no direct effect on delinquent behavior but through the spatial variation, as a mediating variable, the result of between neighborhood process and delinquent behavior. To encourage open communication, the research recommends that families and guardians stay informed about engaging in activities for children, dedicate meaningful time together, and nurture a close bond.

Longitudinal associations between early risk and adolescent delinquency: Mediators, moderators, and main effects.

Although multiple domains of risk are theorized to predict adolescent delinquency, father-specific risk in the context of other risks is under-researched. Using the low-income Future of Families and Child Wellbeing cohort (48% Black, 27% Hispanic, 21% White, 51% boy, N = 4,255), the current study addressed three research questions. (1) are father-, mother-, child-, and family-level cumulative risk during early childhood associated with adolescent delinquent behavior?, (2) does child self-control in middle childhood mediate the associations between fathers' and mothers' cumulative risk and adolescent delinquent behavior, and do quality of parent's relationships with children and parental monitoring in middle childhood mediate the association between child cumulative risk and delinquent behavior?, (3) do parenting, quality of parent-child relationships in middle childhood, and child sex at birth moderate the associations among fathers', mothers', children's, and family risk and adolescent delinquent behavior? Results indicated father, child, and mother risk at ages 3-5 were significantly and positively associated with youth-reported delinquent behavior. Higher levels of family risk were associated with less delinquency when 9-year-olds felt closer to fathers than when they felt less close. Children's self-control at age 9 mediated the associations between father and child risk and delinquent behavior.

Sleep duration, sleep quality, and weapon carrying in a sample of adolescents from Texas

ObjectivesStudies are beginning to document an association between sleep duration and a range of adolescent delinquent behaviors, including weapon carrying. However, little is known about whether and to what extent sleep quality – another dimension of sleep for healthy adolescent functioning – is associated with weapon carrying. We address this gap in knowledge by evaluating the role of restless sleep and sleep duration in adolescent weapon carrying. MethodsWe analyze data from a diverse sample of 994 adolescents from Texas, USA collected in 2010. Multivariate logistic regression models estimate the association of sleep duration and restless sleep on weapon carrying after controlling for theoretical covariates and demographic characteristics. ResultsAdolescents sleeping 4 h or less on school nights were more than twice as likely to report carrying a weapon (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.16–4.89, p =.018). Sleeping 5–6 h was associated with higher odds of carrying a weapon, while 6–7 h and 8 or more hours were associated with lower odds; however, all associations were non-significant. Restless sleep was associated with weapon carrying at the bivariate level (Pearson χ2 (3) = 10.56, p =.014), but not at the multivariate (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.91–1.32, p =.299). ConclusionsOur findings align with previous research demonstrating that sleeping 4 or less hours increases the likelihood of adolescent weapon carrying. Restless sleep appears to play less of a role. Future research should elucidate the longitudinal pathways between sleep duration, sleep quality, and forms of adolescent weapon carrying.

Adolescent Romance Or Partners In Crime? The Influence Of Romantic Relationships And Peers On Criminal Behavior In Adolescence

ABSTRACT The impact of romantic relationships in adulthood, specifically marriage, has received consistent attention in existing scholarship. However, the impact of romantic relationships during adolescence has received much less attention. As such, the current study uses two waves of data from the Pathways to Desistance study to examine how elements of romantic and peer relationships affect adolescent delinquent behaviors. Results indicated several important findings regarding the desistance effects of romantic relationship status, monitoring by romantic partners, and impulse control on adolescents’ self-reported nonviolent and violent offending. Limitations, future research, and policy recommendations are discussed.

Perception of Socio-Cultural with the Emergence of Delinquent Behavior

Socio-cultural role in society is closely related to shaping individual behavior in their daily lives, including negative behavior such as fighting and violating norms. One of negative behavior is delinquent behavior in adolescents. This study aimed to reveal the correlation between perception of socio-cultural and the emergence of delinquent behavior in school-age adolescents. The research respondents were teenagers with student status totaling 188. The sample technique used was purposive random sampling. The instruments used to measure socio-cultural were Socio-Cultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS) and Delinquency Behavior Scale (DBS). Statistical analysis method used simple linear regression with SPSS. The results showed that there was a significant negative correlation (r = -0.397, p = 0.012) between perception of social culture and the emergence of delinquent adolescent behavior. The negative coefficient value indicated a reversed direction, which means that the more positive the perception of socio-cultural, the lower the occurrence of delinquent behavior and vice versa. It can be concluded that forming a positive perception of the socio-cultural environment can help reducing delinquent adolescent behavior.

Relationship between Child Abuse and Delinquent Behavior in Male Adolescents Deprived of Liberty

A total of 425 young people between 12 and 18 years of age, deprived of liberty from different centers for adolescent offenders in Ecuador, were used. The level of abuse to which they had been subjected in childhood was evaluated, as well as the risk factors present in their history. The relationship between abuse, risk factors, and criminal behavior was analyzed. A high prevalence of the different types of abuse was found in the mean age of 15.03 years standard deviation (SD = 1.34). In addition, a relationship was discovered between the abuse suffered during childhood and the risk factors present in criminal behavior during adolescence, which was demonstrated in this article. The practical implications of these results are discussed, taking into consideration their relevance for prevention.

Victimization Can Lead to Transgression: Exploring the Psychometric Properties of the Short Stressful Life Events Questionnaire in Adolescents

ABSTRACT We aimed to provide evidence of validity and reliability for the scores of a stressful life events risk assessment in offender and non-offender Chilean adolescents. The design was instrumental. A total of 2,516 adolescents from two previous projects were part of the study. The offender sub-sample (25.36%) was recruited by non-probabilistic convenience sampling and the non-offender (74.64%) by proportional and stratified by conglomerates sampling. We identified 47 items that are risk factors for delinquency and antisocial outcomes, and we grouped them into six theoretical dimensions. We obtained good content coherence, acceptable internal consistency, adequate factor structure, convergent associations with theoretically related constructs, and predictive capacity for some dimensions. The logistic regression analysis showed that adolescents who accumulated more risk factors had an augmented risk of being an offender. The hierarchical multiple regression indicated that four of the six dimensions were predictors of violent antisocial behavior. As evidence of three validity sources and reliability were demonstrated, we recommend using the scale for detecting events that are risk factors of antisocial and delinquent behavior in adolescents and for intervention to prevent violent criminal and antisocial conduct.

The relationship of family functionality and parent behavior on adolescent delinquent behavior

<p>Adolescent social problems involving juvenile delinquents concentrate around factor such as family functionality and parental behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of family functionality and parent behavior on adolescent delinquent behavior. This study included 196 female delinquent adolescent inmates from four Malaysian correctional and rehabilitation centers in Malaysia. Data was collected using a questionnaire set that included background characteristics, The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES) IV, The parental behavior inventory (PBI), and Inventory Delinquency Scale. The descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were used to analyses the data. The result showed that family functionality has a significant association with delinquent behavior (r=-.255, p<001). Parental behavior also has a significant association with juvenile delinquent behavior (r=.411, p<.001).</p>

The relationship of family functionality and parent behavior on adolescent delinquent behavior

The relationship of family functionality and parent behavior on adolescent delinquent behavior

Adolescent delinquent behavior and sleep deficiency: a test of multiple mechanisms using sibling comparison designs.

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between adolescent delinquency and sleep deficiency. A comprehensive set of potential mechanisms underlying this association were also examined. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the present study employed sibling fixed effects models to account for unobservable family-level confounders, such as genetic predisposition, parenting style, parental ability, and school and neighborhood environments. In Sobel mediation tests, the following mechanism variables were explored: substance use, school-based relationships, and parent-child relationships. An increase in delinquency (measured by the total number of types of delinquent behavior engaged) was associated with an increased risk of sleep deficiency one year later. Sibling fixed effects models with a lagged dependent variable revealed that this association is robust to adjustment for family-level heterogeneity as well as prior sleep deficiency. Substance use was the most salient pathway linking delinquency to sleep deficiency (17% for binge drinking and 26% for marijuana use), followed by student-teacher relationships (17%) and father-child relationships (16%). The results of this study suggest that policymakers and practitioners may consider developing interventions to help delinquent adolescents avoid substance use and restore disruptions of student-teacher and father-child relationships.

Family Functioning and Adolescent Delinquency in Mainland China: Positive Youth Development Attributes as a Mediator.

According to the positive youth development (PYD) approach, PYD attributes such as psychosocial competencies are developmental assets which can promote the holistic development of adolescents, such as increase in thriving and decrease in risk behavior. Although there are research findings supporting this theoretical proposition, there are several weaknesses in this literature. These include a lack of studies examining family antecedents of PYD attributes and the mediating role of PYD attributes in the relationship between family functioning and adolescent delinquency. There are also few longitudinal studies utilizing large samples and validated measures of family functioning and PYD attributes in the scientific literature. In this study, we examined the predictive effect of family functioning on adolescent delinquency and the mediating role of PYD attributes. Using a short-term longitudinal study in Sichuan, China, we collected two waves of data from 4,981 adolescents aged 11 and above, with 6 months between the two waves. Analyses using structural equation modeling showed that family functioning at Wave 1 negatively predicted the level of and change in delinquent behavior at Wave 2, with PYD attributes at Wave 2 as a mediating factor. The present study enriches the conceptual framework on the role of family functioning and PYD attributes in adolescent delinquent behavior. The findings also suggest that strengthening family functioning and PYD attributes would protect adolescents from engaging in delinquent acts.

Materialism, Egocentrism and Delinquent Behavior in Chinese Adolescents in Mainland China: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study.

Although research generally showed that holding materialistic beliefs would lead to poor developmental outcomes, few studies have used adolescent delinquency as an outcome measure. In addition, the intervening processes between materialism and adolescent developmental outcomes are unclear. In particular, it is not clear how materialistic beliefs influence egocentrism and adolescent delinquency. Methodologically, the existing studies have several weaknesses, including small samples, cross-sectional research designs, and being limited to people living in Western cultures. Using two waves of data collected from Sichuan, China (N = 4981), we studied the predictive effect of adolescent materialism on delinquency and the mediating role of egocentrism. Over two occasions separated by six months, students aged 11 and above responded to a questionnaire evaluating adolescent materialism, egocentrism, and delinquency (mean Wave 1 age = 13.15, range between 11 and 20.38). Results of multiple regression analyses suggested that materialism at Time 1 positively predicted Time 2 egocentrism. Additionally, Time 1 materialism positively predicted the level and change in Time 2 delinquency. Finally, based on 5000 bootstrap samples with gender, age, ethnic group, and Time 1 delinquent behavior as covariates, PROCESS analyses showed that egocentrism partially mediated the influence of Time 1 materialism delinquency and its change at Time 2. This study suggests that materialistic beliefs shape egocentrism, which further strengthens adolescent delinquent behavior. This study also replicates the findings of a pioneer study in China reported previously.

Oral language skills, callous and unemotional traits and high-risk patterns of youth offending

Extensive research has associated adolescent delinquent behavior with verbal deficits, yet for some subgroups of youth offenders better verbal ability has been associated with increased risk. This study examined associations between specific oral language skills and established markers of high-risk youth offending comprising callous and unemotional (CU) traits, early age of the first offence, and violent offending. Measures of language, CU traits, anxiety, as well as official youth justice data, were collected for adolescent male offenders and non-offenders (n = 130; aged 13–19 years; 62% youth offenders). Pragmatic language was found to be differentially associated with distinct variants of CU traits based on high/low levels of anxiety. Furthermore, among youth offenders with primary variant (low anxiety) CU traits, more violent offending was associated with better structural language skills, while earlier age of first offence was associated with better pragmatic language skills.

Childhood Head Injury as an Acquired Neuropsychological Risk Factor for Adolescent Delinquency

Objectives: This study aims to parse out the effects of childhood head injury (HI) as an acquired neuropsychological deficit that impacts adolescent delinquent behavior, while accounting for other early-life risk factors and potential temporal ordering. Methods: Nationally representative prospective data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS; N = 13,287) and a series of logistic and binomial regressions are used to examine the relationship between early-life risk factors, HI, and adolescent delinquent behavior. Methodological considerations from clinical HI research, such as the use of an orthopedic injury comparison group, are incorporated. Results: Findings are consistent with the conceptualization of HI as an acquired neuropsychological deficit, in that childhood HI increases the risk of early- and adolescent-onset delinquency, sustained delinquent behavior from childhood to early adolescence, and participation in a greater variety of delinquent behavior. Conclusions: Childhood HI is relatively common, as over 27% of the sample reported at least one HI. The importance of HI as an acquired neuropsychological deficit and its relevance as a risk factor for later criminal behavior is reiterated. Future research should examine the importance of developmental period effects and mechanisms underlying this relationship.

The Explanation of Adolescent Delinquent Behaviors Based on Jessor's Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) in Iran: The Role of Individual Vulnerability, Opportunity Risk Availability, and Perceived Support.

This study tested the generality of Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) in explaining adolescents' problem behavior in Iran. Data were collected from 392 adolescents (Mage = 15.97, SD = 1.12, 55.4% girls) who completed the Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire (AHDQ) to assess the individual vulnerability, opportunity risk availability, perceived support, and delinquent behaviors. Results indicated that individual vulnerability and opportunity risk availability had a significant relationship with delinquent behaviors and a significant interaction with perceived support in their influence on delinquent behaviors. Further, perceived support was negatively associated with delinquent behaviors. Our results were consistent with PBT's explanatory model for adolescents' problem behavior in Western countries and are informative about problem behavior involvement among Iranian adolescents and the design of interventions.

Amygdala as a potential biological mechanism in callous-uncaring traits: A critical review

Externalizing behavior and psychopathy in early childhood are considered precursors to adolescent delinquency and criminal behavior. Psychopathic characteristics in adults consist of callousness, lack of empathy, shallowness, and impulsivity (Hare et al., 2000). A key trait associated with externalizing behaviors of children with a high callous-unemotional (CU) score is insensitivity to the sadness of others. CU characteristics are associated with a hypoactive amygdala, which has been found to modify the association between CU characteristics and externalizing tendencies (Saxbe et al., 2018). This paper analyses and synthesizes scholarly research articles and provides a critical review of the current state of this field of research.

Empathy as a Mediator of the Relationship between Authoritative Parenting and Delinquent Behavior in Adolescence.

The characteristics of authoritative parenting, including high parental nurturance and appropriate control, are protective against adolescents' delinquency. However, the mediating psychological mechanisms are not well understood. This three-wave longitudinal study with 704 adolescents (52% males; 76% African American) investigated empathy at age 13 as a mediator of the prospective association between authoritative parenting (child's disclosure and parental nurturance) at age 11 with delinquency at age 18. The results of a structural equation model revealed a significant indirect effect of authoritative parenting on delinquency through empathy. Authoritative parenting at age 11 predicted increased empathy at age 13, which then predicted decreased delinquency at age 18. These findings suggest that authoritative parenting reduces adolescents' delinquency by promoting empathy.