Delinquency Relationship Research Articles

Moderation of the Antisocial Cognition-Offending Relationship by Neighborhood Disorder: A Multilevel Analysis of Adolescents from Eight Western European Countries

In an effort to gauge the effect of perceived neighborhood disorder on the antisocial cognition–delinquency relationship, this study subjected data from the Second International Self-Reported Delinquency study (ISRD2) to multilevel analysis. The sample for this study was composed of 20,700 participants (10,219 males and 10,474 females) from 502 public schools in eight Western European countries. The public school the child was attending served as the clustering variable and participants rated their neighborhoods on measures of physical and psychological disorder. Averaging these ratings across all participants attending a particular school, the mean ratings became the Level 2 variable (neighborhood disorder) in a multilevel analysis. A model composed of control variables, offending variety, moral neutralization, and cognitive impulsivity at Level 1 and neighborhood disorder at Level 2 produced a significant cross-level interaction in which the slope of the moral neutralization–delinquency regression line was significantly steeper when neighborhood disorder was high rather than when it was low. There was no effect for cognitive impulsivity, however, when it was assessed in conjunction with moral neutralization. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that significantly more offending occurs when an individual-level variable, moral neutralization, and a group-level variable, neighborhood disorder, are both elevated.

Punishment and personality: Low agreeableness and low conscientiousness as mediators of the inconsistent/angry parenting–delinquency relationships

This study’s purpose was to determine whether the personality trait dimensions of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness mediate the relationship between mid-adolescent inconsistent/angry parenting and late adolescent delinquency. A sample of 3701 youth from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children served as participants in this study. A path analysis with two independent variables (inconsistent parenting, angry parenting) and five mediators (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness) revealed that, consistent with predictions, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were the only two personality dimensions to mediate the angry parenting–later delinquency relationship. These results suggest that personality dimensions known to correlate with offending behavior (i.e. low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness) may be among the mechanisms responsible for linking social conditions like parenting punishment styles marked by angry parenting to youth behaviors like delinquency.

Sleep and delinquency: The context of self-control, social support, and sex differences among French adolescents

Prior research demonstrates that poor sleep is an important predictor of delinquent behavior among adolescents. Engagement in delinquency is linked to a range of negative mental and physical health outcomes over the life course, underscoring a critical need to address adolescent sleep problems to reduce delinquency. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to how the broader context of social support influences the sleep–delinquency relationship. In this study, we analyze a series of structural equation models using a sample of 447 French adolescents to examine how parental and peer support correspond to three related aspects of sleep among adolescents (quantity, quality, and the frequency of sleep disturbance) with implications for delinquency. Furthermore, we assess how sex differences moderate the relationship between social support and sleep. First, we find that all three indicators of sleep are associated with delinquency, significantly mediated by reductions in self-control. Second, both peer and parental support correspond to sleep outcomes with full sequential mediation evident for sleep quality and delinquency. Finally, we find significant differences in the relationship between social support and all sleep indicators for boys and girls. Peer support is more strongly associated with sleep among boys, whereas parental support is more strongly associated with sleep among girls. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving adolescent sleep to reduce delinquency as well as opportunities for future research.

Jangan Memberi Stigma ”Nakal”: Pengaruh pada Prestasi Pendidikan Agama Kristen Siswa Sekolah Dasar

The delinquency of students towards the value of learning achievement in Sekolah Dasar Hidup Baru Batam is a problem posed in this study. Thepurpose of this study is to find out the extent of the relationship of student delinquency to the value of learning achievement in Sekolah Dasar Hidup Baru Batam. The research instruments used are student questionnaires, interviews and observations, the samples used consist of class IV to class V which totals 55 people, sampling techniques using random techniques. In describing the results of the study, the collected data is entered into a table and then processed with data analysis techniques using the product formula of the moment find percent rough numbers. The effect of student delinquency on learning achievement is at more than 50%. The issue of student delinquency is a shared responsibility between the student's guardian and the student's guardian.

Understanding the role of unstructured socializing with peers and peer delinquency as mediators in the relationship of parental monitoring and delinquency

ABSTRACT In Osgood and colleagues (1996), theoretical formulation of unstructured socializing with peers (USWP), namely, the routine activity theory of general deviance posits that spending time in situations with friends, that lack structure, without authority figures present are more conducive to deviance. The present study advances understanding of this situation through use of an initial sample of over 3,500 adolescents from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program to examine whether the relationships between parental knowledge and delinquency/substance use are mediated by USWP and peer delinquency/peer substance use. Results showed that lack of parental knowledge leads to greater USWP, which then leads to peer delinquency/peer substance use to result in individual delinquency/substance use. By better understanding the various ways adolescents who spend time in settings of unstructured socializing with peers engage in delinquency, both parents and societal members can take steps to reduce these behaviors, which lead to deviant behavior

Protecting Against Delinquency in Early Adolescence With Nonverbal Intelligence and Neighborhood Social Capital

The goal of this study was to test nonverbal intelligence and neighborhood social capital as protective factors against future delinquency in early adolescent youth placed at risk by virtue of their involvement in childhood conduct problems. Analyzing longitudinal data from 3,028 youth (1,565 boys, 1,463 girls) in one cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and 3,682 youth (1,896 boys, 1,786 girls) in a second cohort of the LSAC, nonverbal intelligence, as measured by the Matrix Reasoning subscale of the WISC-IV, displayed a consistent moderating effect on the conduct problems–future delinquency relationship. According to these results, conduct problems were slightly but significantly less likely to lead to delinquency when nonverbal intelligence was high than when it was low or moderate. By shielding at-risk children from future delinquency, protective factors like high nonverbal intelligence may provide a means by which delinquency can be prevented or reduced.

Delinquency as a consequence of parental warmth and self-efficacy: Total sample and individual male and female mediation analyses

IntroductionThis study's purpose was to investigate the mediating effect of parental control self-efficacy on the parental warmth → child delinquency relationship in the mothers and fathers of early to mid-adolescent youth in a test of performance accomplishments as a prelude to parental self-efficacy. MethodsParental warmth and control self-efficacy estimates, representing parental support and control, respectively, were provided by the mothers and fathers of 3934 (2010 boys, 1924 girls) youth from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and self-reported delinquency was obtained from the child. ResultsAs predicted, parental control self-efficacy mediated the relationship between parental warmth and child delinquency, whereas parental warmth did not mediate the relationship between parental self-efficacy and child delinquency. When analyses were performed separately for boys and girls, the father warmth → father self-efficacy → child delinquency pathway achieved the most consistent results in boys and the mother warmth → mother self-efficacy → child delinquency pathway achieved the only significant effect in girls. ConclusionsThese results suggest that performance accomplishments, as characterized by a warm parent–child relationship, led to enhanced parental control self-efficacy, which, in turn, served to inhibit future delinquency in the child, thereby lending credence to a social cognitive learning theory interpretation of the parental support–control interface.

Moderating the Criminal Thinking–Delinquency Relationship with a Free Market Cultural Ethos: Integrating Micro- and Macro-Level Concepts in Criminology

The current study tested the interaction between micro- and macro-level criminological concepts to determine whether a free market cultural ethos moderated the criminal thinking–delinquency connection. Using a cross-national sample of 65,923 youth (32,614 boys, 33,309 girls, 10 to 20 years of age), the link between criminal thinking and delinquency was explored in 28 nations, each of which had been scored on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. Results revealed that a free market cultural ethos had a significant moderating effect on the criminal thinking–delinquency relationship. These results suggest that macro-level free market attitudes toward personal wealth as a cultural goal may interact with such micro-level criminological concepts as criminal thinking and delinquency to alter important criminological associations.

In search of a mechanism: mediating the perceived parental support–delinquency relationship with child empathy

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine whether empathy is capable of mediating the relationship between perceived parental support and juvenile delinquency. This hypothesis was tested in a path analysis of 3,865 (51% male) Australian schoolchildren (mean age = 12.4 years at first wave) using three waves of data with two years between each wave. The dependent variable (juvenile delinquency) was regressed onto cross-lagged independent and mediating latent variables (perceived parental support and empathy). As predicted, the pathway running from perceived parental support to empathy to delinquency was significant, the pathway running from empathy to perceived parental support to delinquency was nonsignificant, and the difference between the two pathways was significant. These findings indicate that parental support, as perceived and reported by the child, is instrumental in promoting empathy, which, in turn, may protect the youth against future delinquency.

Associations among Bullying Victimization, Family Dysfunction, Negative Affect, and Bullying Perpetration in Macanese Adolescents.

Bullying has become one of the most significant problem behaviors that school-aged adolescents face. The current study examines the strain-delinquency relationship by employing General Strain Theory as a guiding framework. "Strain" was operationalized as bullying victimization and family dysfunction, "delinquency" was operationalized as bullying perpetration, and "negative affect" was operationalized as anxiety and depression. Analyses were carried out based on a group of 2,139 Macanese schoolchildren. Using a structural equation modeling technique, the results revealed that exposure to family dysfunction and bullying victimization was associated with adolescents' negative affect, such as anxiety and depression. Contrary to our expectations, the indirect effect of victimization on bullying through negative affect was negative, though the mediation effect was relatively small and only significant in boys. In addition, gender analyses of invariance showed that male adolescents who experienced more family conflict and parental control were less likely to engage in bullying. This study could lead to further anti-bullying interventions and practical efforts designed to improve positive parenting and adolescents' interpersonal skills.

Parental Control as a Stimulus for Youth Control: Mediating the Parental Knowledge–Child Delinquency Relationship With Cognitive Impulsivity

Parental knowledge was investigated as a foil to reactive criminal thinking, as represented in the current study by cognitive impulsivity. Cognitive impulsivity and neutralization were tested as mediators of the parental knowledge–child delinquency relationship in 1,734 early adolescents (811 boys, 923 girls) from the Gang Resistance and Education Training (GREAT) study. A path analysis of the first three waves of GREAT data revealed that Wave 2 cognitive impulsivity but not Wave 2 neutralization techniques negatively mediated the link between Wave 1 parental knowledge and Wave 3 child delinquency. These results were replicated in variables measured at Waves 2 through 4. Parental control, in the form of parental knowledge and monitoring, may therefore prevent delinquency by countering cognitive impulsivity.

Moral disengagement as a mediator of the co-offending-delinquency relationship in serious juvenile offenders.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether moral disengagement (MD) mediated the relationship between co-offending and future delinquency once age, race, gang affiliation, unsupervised routine activities, and perceived peer delinquency were controlled. It was predicted that the temporal relationship between co-offending and future offending would be mediated by MD but not by cognitive impulsivity (CI), and that the MD-mediated effect would be significantly stronger than the CI-mediated effect. Participants were 1,162 serious delinquent male youth from the Pathways to Desistance study. A fixed-sample panel longitudinal design was implemented and a path analysis with two parallel mediators (MD and CI) and one dependent variable (delinquency) was performed. Consistent with predictions, a path analysis determined that MD but not CI mediated the relationship between co-offending and future self-reported delinquency. In addition, the indirect effect for MD was significantly stronger than the indirect effect for CI. It is surmised that co-offending may provide youth with the opportunity to observe, model, and learn criminal attitudes and behaviors from other offenders, which then augments MD and sets the stage for a rise in delinquency. Policies and programs designed to disrupt co-offending and reduce MD are discussed in terms of delinquency prevention and desistance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Does truancy make the delinquent? A situational and longitudinal analysis of the truancy–delinquency relationship

Although truancy has frequently been linked to delinquency, we still lack a proper understanding of how this relationship comes about. This study uses Situational Action Theory (SAT) to develop a more comprehensive, mechanism-based explanation of the truancy–delinquency nexus. The core argument is that the relationship is conditional on adolescents’ propensity for delinquency and their exposure to criminogenic settings. To test this argument, I use two kinds of data collected as part of the Peterborough Adolescent Development Study (PADS+). Drawing on unique situational data provided by space–time budgets, I find only weak evidence that the relationship between truancy and delinquency exists at the situational level. Analyses of multiple yearly waves of this panel study provide support for SAT’s potential as a theoretical framework for the truancy–delinquency relationship by showing that the effect of truancy on changes in delinquency is conditional on changes in adolescents’ delinquency propensity and their exposure to criminogenic settings.

Pubertal timing and adolescent delinquency†

AbstractEarly pubertal timing (PT) increases the risk of adolescent delinquency, whereas late development reduces this risk; however, the mechanisms explaining PT effects on delinquency remain elusive. Theoretically, the PT–delinquency relationship is as a result of changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body‐image perceptions or is a spurious reflection of early life risk factors. Using intergenerational data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a prospective sample of children followed from infancy to age 14 years in the United Kingdom (N = 11,556 parent–child pairs), we find that for both boys and girls, early PT is associated with heightened risks of delinquency, relative to on‐time puberty, whereas late PT is associated with lower risks, even after controlling for a large share of childhood confounders. Mediation test results indicate that changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body‐image perceptions from ages 11 to 14 partly account for associations between off‐time PT and delinquency. Our findings are most consistent with criminological theories in which the psychosocial, familial, and peer group changes that accompany off‐time pubertal development are emphasized. Changes in peer substance use, in particular, were the primary explanatory factor for the relationships between early and late PT and delinquency, for both boys and girls.

Influence of maltreatment, bullying, and neurocognitive impairment on recidivism in adolescents with conduct disorder: A 3-Year prospective study

We sought to clarify the influence of family developmental conditions (e.g., adverse childhood experiences: ACEs), peer relationships (e.g., bullying), and neurocognitive impairment on recidivism in adolescents with conduct disorder (CD). We interviewed 290 adolescents with CD (265 males, 25 females) who had been admitted to a juvenile justice assessment center for the first time about their offense(s), onset of delinquency, ACEs, and peer relationships. The participants also completed tests of neurocognitive activities and self-report symptom measures: the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the Memory Updating test for the assessment of attention, the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES) for the assessment of dissociation, and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11th version (BIS-11) for the assessment of impulsivity. After the family court judgement and discharge, the participants were followed for 3 years. Readmissions to the center during the follow-up period were considered cases of “recidivism.” During the follow-up, 102 (35.2%) participants were readmitted to the center. A survival analysis (Cox proportional hazard model) showed that lower age, bullying (as the perpetrator), and impaired cognitive function (e.g., a lower SDMT score) significantly increased recidivism, whereas bullying (as both victim and perpetrator) decreased recidivism. ACEs showed no clear effect on recidivism. Lower age and impaired cognitive function appear to predispose adolescent first-time offenders with CD to recidivism. However, the peer bullying analysis showed that being a perpetrator positively influenced recidivism, whereas being both a victim and a perpetrator negatively influenced recidivism. Further research considering the heterogeneity and comorbidity of CD could clarify bullying’s influence on recidivism.

Moderating the bullying perpetration-delinquency relationship with parental support and knowledge: A prospective analysis of middle school students.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether parental support and knowledge moderate the relationship between bullying perpetration and delinquency. A sample of 305 middle school students (141 boys, 164 girls; 10-12 years of age) served as participants in this study. The research hypothesis predicted that parental support and knowledge would moderate the prospective bullying-delinquency relationship. Testing this hypothesis with least squares regression parametric coefficients and percentile bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals, parental support received full support and parental knowledge no support as factors potentially capable of reducing risk for future delinquency by interacting with prior bullying perpetration. Whereas parental support decreased the odds of high bullying boys engaging in future delinquency-an outcome consistent with the view that parenting can serve a protective function against future offending by neutralizing the risk effect of bullying-parental knowledge failed to reduce future delinquency in children who bullied, although it did have a direct ameliorative effect on future delinquency. The protective effect was strongest when parental support was high and parental knowledge low, whereas the risk effect was strongest when parental support was low and parental knowledge was medium to high. These results suggest that protective and risk effects are limited to certain combinations of protective and risk factors.

Explaining the Cultural Retention–Delinquency Relationship Using Differential Support and Coercion Theory: A Study of Native‐Born and Immigrant Latino Youth

ObjectiveAlthough immigrants tend to have lower involvement in delinquency, increasing levels of acculturation to American society may lead to higher levels of delinquency. Conversely, cultural retention typically reduces such behavior. To explain these findings, this study employs differential coercion and support theory to predict that cultural retention is inversely associated with delinquency through associations with greater social support and less coercion.MethodUsing a large, national‐level sample of Latino native‐born and immigrant youth, analyses are conducted using both ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression.ResultsFindings support hypotheses, showing that increases in cultural retention are associated with less coercion and more social support, both of which are, in turn, related to delinquency. Importantly, an initial strong inverse relationship between cultural retention and delinquency disappears when coercion and social support are controlled.ConclusionHigher social support and lower coercion help explain the inverse relationship between cultural retention and delinquency among native‐born and immigrant Latino youth.

Assessing self-control and strain of delinquent peer association trajectories within developmental perspectives: A latent class growth analysis approach

This study examines the impacts of self-control and strain variables as integrated and exclusive forces on trajectory class membership of delinquent peer association and the mediating role of self-control in GST predictions. The study also examines how later delinquency (online and offline) varies on class membership. Using longitudinal data of 2351 Korean adolescents, it employs a latent class growth analysis to identify distinct subgroups, each having a similar pattern of delinquent peer association trajectories over a five-year period. The analysis yields three subgroups: early-onset (0.9% of the sample), late peak (3.5%), and normative trajectory (95.6%). The results reveal that low self-control and strain have an exclusive influence on delinquent peer association for only the early-onset group, compared to the normative group. Low self-control partially mediates the strain-peer delinquency relationship in the early onset group. The late peak group has a higher likelihood of engaging in later delinquency and cyber-deviance.

The relationship of family disintegration and juvenile delinquency

The study aims to investigate the extent to which the phenomenon of family disintegration contributes to juvenile delinquency; through it to identify the following sub-goals: the level of separation and divorce among the parents of the research units, poor relations between the parents, the absence of one or both parents due to death, imprisonment or emigration ,criminal precedents of Parents or siblings, the economic circumstances of juvenile families, the type of pedagogy, socialization, the parent's dealingwith juveniles, and the relationship of all metioned subject with juvenile delinquency. The study was based on the descriptive and comparative approach through comprehensive social survey method as a general method of research, and the data was collected by questinnaire. The sample was drawnfrom the prisoners in the juvenile reform institution in the city of Erbil. The total number of research units (68) of those sentenced in the institution.The study found several results, the most important of which are: The physical disintegration of family because of the absence of one or both parents as a result of death, abandonment or polygamy is one of the main causes of different types of juvenile delinquency.Likewise,the moral disintegration of the family is accoutned as one of the factors of juvenile delinquencydue to poor social relationships between the parents, or because of continuous differences and quarrels between them, or existing someone who has criminal record or drinks alcohol inside family, or following the wrong method of upbringing and socialinzing of children to prevent them from excessive or cruel treatment or discrimination, andfinally not monitoring childern outside the house by parents. The presence of disability or chronic disease by one or both parents is considered one of the reasons behind family disintegration and juvenile delinquency in the city of Erbil.

Affinity, Affiliation, and Guilt: Examining Between- and Within-Person Variability in Delinquent Peer Influence

A longstanding debate in criminology concerns whether peers influence delinquency or if they are of no significance because criminal propensity develops independent of associations. Matza (1969) criticized these competing perspectives, suggesting instead that the peer–delinquency relationship is nuanced, such that there is both between- and within-person variability in the influence of friends. Drawing on his choice-based perspective, we hypothesize that peers have a stronger influence on the delinquent tendencies of individuals low in criminal propensity. Further, we predict that the influence of peers varies within-individuals across crime types, such that delinquent friends are less influential for behaviors that individuals anticipate more guilt. Using data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) evaluation, we find support for these hypotheses. Perceived peer delinquency is a stronger predictor of offending for those lower in criminal propensity. Further, individuals are less susceptible to delinquent peers for acts in which they anticipate higher levels of guilt.