Delinquent Friends Research Articles

Unraveling the Sequences of Risk Factors Underlying the Development of Criminal Behavior

This work aims to investigate the role of sequences of risk factors from childhood to young adulthood in predicting subsequent criminal convictions. This study uses the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) dataset, a prospective longitudinal research study that followed 411 males from South London from the age of 8 to 61 years. Temporal sequences of risk factors at ages 8–10, 12–14, and 16–18 were analyzed as predictors of subsequent criminal convictions up to the age of 61. Risk factors related to poverty, parenting problems, and children’s risk-taking predisposition at ages 8–10 emerged as prevalent starting points for the most highly predictive developmental sequences leading to convictions. The risk of a criminal conviction significantly increased if these risk factors were followed by low IQ scores or association with delinquent friends at ages 12–14, and by school and professional problems or drug addiction during late adolescence (ages 16–18). At each developmental stage, specific risk factors intricately combine to form chains of risk during development, subsequently predicting criminal convictions. A trajectory-of-risk-need-responsivity approach that identifies and breaks chains of risk factors that generate and enhance favorable conditions for criminal convictions is discussed.

Testing Key Concepts of Three Delinquency Theories in a Multi-National Sample of Adolescents

ABSTRACT We test the generalizability of three mainstream delinquency theories across different cultural contexts by differentiating their core theoretical elements in general strain theory (economic stress, negative life events, victimization), social learning theory (deviant friends, beliefs) and social control theory (self-control, social bonds, parental supervision). We draw on data collected from 67,004 youth aged 12 to 16 years old from 33 countries in the International Self-Report Delinquency project (ISRD3) where cultural context is operationalized by nine country clusters. OLS models show that several variables (delinquent friends, victimization, self-control, parental supervision, anticipated shame, pro-social values) have different but significant effects across all country clusters, supporting the universality of these correlates. However, not all correlates (teacher bonds, family deprivation, social bonds) were statistically significant, suggesting a mediating role for culture. When accounting for the explanatory power of the models, we find variation across country clusters. Furthermore, the test for the predictive equality of coefficients for a subsample of clusters found significant differences for some variables. We conclude with recommendations for future research and cross-national criminology development.

Tests of Social Bonding, Differential Association/Social Learning, Strain Theories, and Cigarette Use Among Adolescents in Türkiye

Background: Only a few studies have tested the effects of social bonding, differential association/social learning, and strain theories on cigarette smoking by adolescents in the West/the U.S. and Türkiye. Objectives: Using data collected from adolescents (N = 1.710) living in central Ankara (the capital of Türkiye) in 2001, this study explored whether social bonding, differential association/social learning, and strain theories had any effect on adolescent cigarette use and whether the link between these theories and cigarette smoking varied by gender. Results: While family supervision was negatively associated with the likelihood of cigarette smoking, substance use by close friends, having delinquent friends, definitions favorable to smoking, school failure and punishment at school were positively related to the likelihood of cigarette smoking. Conclusion: Social bonding, differential association/social learning, and strain theories are generally associated with smoking in the theoretically expected direction. However, the data also indicate that variables from social learning theory have a greater impact on cigarette smoking by adolescents, followed by variables from strain and social bonding theories. Finally, the three theories appear to play more important roles in female than male adolescent smoking behaviors.

The company you keep: The neglected role of affiliating with delinquent friends in the development of the cannabis-violence link

A growing body of research suggests a potential role of cannabis use on aggressive behaviors. In literature on adolescents, the lack of consideration of important confounders, such as adolescent’s affiliation with delinquent peers, limits the possibility to determine whether there might be a direct or indirect link between cannabis use and aggression. Therefore, we sought to examine the effect of delinquent peers on the association between cannabis use and violence. We re-analyzed data from 850 ninth graders who were followed from mid-adolescence to early adulthood. Generalized Estimations Equations (GEE) were conducted to examine whether affiliation with delinquent peers may mediate the relationship between cannabis use and violence. Cross-Lagged Panel Models were also conducted to estimate the directionality of these relationships over time. We additionally tested whether similar relationships may be identifiable when examining rule-breaking behaviors and/or alcohol use. GEE models revealed that both cannabis use and affiliation with delinquent peers were statistically associated with aggressive behaviors. Cannabis use, alcohol use and delinquent peers also predicted rule-breaking behaviors. More precisely, cross-lagged models showed that affiliation with delinquent peers played a partially mediating role in the cannabis-aggression link, and that similar cross-lagged estimates were observed when examining rule-breaking behaviors instead of aggression. Our results indicate that cannabis use may be associated with aggression as well as rule-breaking behaviors, suggesting a broader effect on conduct problems. More importantly, our study highlights the non-negligible role of affiliating with delinquent peers during adolescence.

Individual differences in school conduct, friend delinquency, and moral agency as predictors of recidivism in low-to-moderate-risk youth

Turning points can bring about crime deceleration and desistance in several ways. In the present study, improved conduct at school in association with a change in differential associations (friends) served as a putative turning point, while a change in moral agency served as a cognitive mediator, and arrest served as a dichotomous outcome measure in a group of 7117 low-to-moderate-risk justice-involved youth divided into two equally sized samples (mean ages = 15.74 and 15.73, SD = 1.36 and 1.38). Mediation analysis revealed a significant direct effect from good school conduct to low recidivism and significant indirect effects across both samples. One of the significant indirect effects ran from improved school conduct to decreased friend delinquency to increased moral agency to lower recidivism and the other ran from good school conduct to increased moral agency to lower recidivism. Despite potential problems with the generalizability of results and the construct validity of some of the measures, findings from this study suggest that improved school conduct in association with a change in friend differential associations can serve as a turning point or marker for change capable of stimulating a rise in moral agency, which, in turn, may reduce the likelihood of future recidivism.

학교 밖 청소년들의 사이버폭력에 영향을 미치는 비행친구 요인 분석

The main purpose of this study was to test whether the factors of impulsivity, parental neglect, and smartphone addiction among out-of-school youth affect cyber violence indirectly or directly through the mediation of delinquent peer variables. The data used in this study were from the fourth year (2016) of the Korean Youth Policy Research Institute's Panel on Out-of-School Youth (PSSDY). A structural equation model was applied to carry out the research objectives. The results showed that the impulsivity variable not only influences cyber violence through mediating discriminatory contact with delinquent peers, but also directly leads to cyber violence. The parental neglect factor did not directly affect cyber violence, but indirectly affected the dependent variable through delinquent peers. On the other hand, the smartphone addiction factor was found to have a direct effect on cyber violence, but not indirectly through contact with delinquent friends. This study proved that among the many factors that can affect cyber violence among out-of-school youth, the variable of discriminatory contact with delinquent friends has a significant impact. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to develop cyber violence prevention programs that can block discriminatory contact with delinquent friends among out-of-school youth.

Gender-based differences in abstention and desistance from drug use among American Indian adolescents

Informed by the social control theoretical perspective, this study intends to identify the factors more likely to differentiate American Indian (AI) adolescents who never used illicit drugs (abstainers) and those who used drugs in the past but did not report recent drug usage (desisters) from their peers who reported lifetime and recent drug usage (persisters). This secondary analysis is based on data from a multi-site study conducted between 2009 and 2013. It is based on a gender-balanced sample (N = 3,380) of AI adolescents (50.50% male; Mean age = 14.75; SD = 1.69) representing the major AI languages and cultural groups in the U.S. Half of the AI adolescents reported lifetime drug use (50.40%), 37.50% never used drugs, and 12.10% stopped using drugs. When controlling for the variables included in the analysis, AI boys were significantly more likely than AI girls to desist from drug use. Both boys and girls who never used drugs tended to be younger, were less likely to have delinquent friends and a lower level of self-control, had stronger bonds to school, but lower levels of family attachment, and reported increased parental supervision. Compared to drug users, desisters associated significantly less with delinquent peers. While school attachment, self-control, and parental monitoring did not differentiate female desisters from female drug users, adolescent boys who desisted from drug use were more likely to report higher levels of school attachment and parental monitoring and their level of self-control was less likely to be low.

Changing contexts: A quasi-experiment examining adolescent delinquency and the transition to high school.

In a quasi-experiment, we examine whether changing schools during the transition from 8th to 9th grade influences adolescent delinquency, using a sample of more than 14,000 students in 26 public school districts (PROSPER study). The dataset follows students for eight waves from 6th through 12th grade and facilitates a unique, direct comparison of students who change schools with those who remain in the same school during this period. Results show that students who transition between schools report significantly less delinquency after the shift than those who do not, and that this difference persists through 10th grade. This decline is most pronounced when adolescents from multiple middle schools move to a single high school (i.e., multifeeder transitions). Students who transition between schools have fewer delinquent friends and participate in less unstructured socializing following the change in school environment, which partially mediates their reduced delinquency. Results provide some support for theories of differential association and routine activities. Our findings highlight the role of a crucial, yet understudied, life transition in shaping adolescent delinquency. The results from this quasi-experiment underscore the potential of alterations in social context to significantly dampen juvenile delinquency throughout high school.

Situational Peer Effects on Delinquency1

We examine the situational effects of delinquent friends and unstructured socializing on the commission of thirteen types of offenses. We use the method of situational decomposition to disentangle the effects of situational influence from historical effects and confounding variables. Analyses are based on the Second International Self-Reported Delinquency Study (N = 73,000). They show that situational effects account for a substantial portion of the relationships between: (1) delinquency and the delinquency of friends; and (2) delinquency and unstructured socializing. The evidence suggests that situational conformity and opportunity are important in explaining why adolescents commit delinquency. Adolescents are much more likely to engage in offenses when they are socializing with friends, particularly when they are present when those friends are engaged in delinquency.

Potential Pathways From Peer Victimization to Alcohol Use Among Biracial Adolescents: The Intervening Role of Parental Support.

This study examined pathways from peer victimization to alcohol use and the role of parental support in mediating potential peer effects among biracial youth. Given a significant dearth of research on biracial youth, this study addresses this significant gap in the extant literature. Secondary data analyses were conducted using the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study in the United States. This study enrolled 492 self-identified biracial school-aged youth using a nationally representative sampling of public and private schools. Structural equation modeling was computed to test the mediational effects of low number of close friends, affiliation with delinquent friends, and parental support on alcohol use. Major findings indicated that affiliation with delinquent friends was correlated with higher alcohol use, higher levels of parental support were correlated with lower peer victimization, and higher levels of parental support were negatively correlated with affiliation with delinquent peers and alcohol use. Parental and peer effects remain salient for biracial youth who are navigating adolescence and experiencing peer victimization. School-based interventions that include parents and friends of biracial youth are likely to be effective in reducing peer victimization and its negative sequelae.

What shapes cyber delinquency in adolescents?: A holistic and comparative analysis of cyber and traditional offline delinquencies

Despite extensive research, the question remains regarding what shapes cyber delinquency. Using Korean Children and Youth Panel Study, this study conducted a comparative examination of the factors affecting cyber and traditional offline delinquencies from a holistic perspective. The results show that cyber and traditional offline delinquencies have both distinctive and common factors. Both groups were affected by direct and indirect delinquency-related experiences, such as delinquent friends and victimization by delinquency. Intriguingly, cyber delinquency was not associated with many factors that strongly affected traditional offline delinquency, such as gender, aggression, and academic achievement. Rather, it was affected by other factors, such as depression, lack of attention, Internet use for social communications, and relationships with teachers. The results of this study suggest that cyber delinquents may be qualitatively different from traditional delinquents in many aspects, and therefore a more differentiated approach is needed to efficiently prevent cyber delinquency.

Correlates of bullying among adolescent boys and girls in kano metropolis Nigeria: A mixed-methods study

Background: Bullying is the most common expression of violence among school children globally. Associated with an array of risk and protective factors, it affects the physical, mental, and social well-being of its victims. Aims: We assessed the prevalence, patterns, and correlates of bullying among in-school adolescent boys and girls in Kano Metropolis Kano, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Using a mixed-methods study design, structured questionnaires were administered to 635 adolescent boys and girls across 30 schools. The point of saturation was achieved after 13 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with the adolescents. One FGD each was carried out in 13 of the 30 sampled schools. Logistic regression and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. Results: Adolescents were mainly Hausa/Fulani (n = 522, 86.9%), and the most represented age group was the middle adolescence (n = 299, 47.1%). Bullying was prevalent among 73.0% (n = 230) and 61.3% (n = 196) of the boys and girls, respectively, and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01). FGDs revealed that bullying was common, and sanctions against it in some girls' schools could possibly explain a lower prevalence. Boys who played sports (Adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.26–0.90), who had delinquent friends (aOR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.33–0.99) and girls with a good self-esteem (aOR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.23–0.64), and who had delinquent friends (P = 0.31, aOR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.36–0.95) were less likely to be bullied. On the other hand, the factors that increased the likelihood of being bullied were having unsupportive teachers (aOR = 2.88, 95% CI = 1.39–5.40), which increased the likelihood of being bullied. FGDs revealed that bullied adolescents were perceived as weak, unpopular, and had few friends. Conclusion: Bullying occurred among a significant majority of the in-school adolescents within the metropolis. More commonly in boys, bullying was verbal, as was social bullying among adolescent girls. Antibullying strategies should target individual behaviour, teachers' attitudes, and building a positive school climate. Teaching adolescents skills on self-awareness, self-management, and relationship management are necessary.

Do Morality and Self-Control Protect from Criminogenic Peer Influence? Testing Multidimensional Person–Environment Interactions

The present study examines whether the effect of involvement with delinquent friends on young people’s criminal activity is contingent on adolescents’ personal morality and their capacity for self-control and how these enduring properties work together in determining youths’ vulnerability to peer influence. The corresponding person–environment interactions are tested based on a longitudinal student survey from Austria. Findings reveal conditional peer effects. The significance of crime-prone friends decreases as morality gets stronger and self-control gets higher. Thereby, self-control seems to modify criminogenic peer effects particularly among youths of weak morality. We find evidence of a three-way interaction according to which high trait self-control protects against detrimental peer influence primarily among individuals who have poorly internalized law-consistent moral rules. Such an interplay is consistent with theoretical reflections regarding a moral filtering of action alternatives and a subsidiary relevance of self-control.

Understanding Youth Perceptions of Neighborhood Disorder: The Role of Conduct Problems.

While research addresses neighborhood disorder as leading to conduct problems, the role of individual-level differences in shaping adolescent perceptions of neighborhood has been overlooked. Data on youth, over-selected for childhood conduct problems (N = 744, 58% childhood conduct problems, 47% girls), were used to examine the link between conduct problems (time 1: Mean age = 12.23) and perceived neighborhood disorder (time 3: M = 14.30). The mediating role of delinquent friends, peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and observer-rated neighborhood disorder (time 2: M = 13.23) were also tested. Conduct problems were associated with higher levels of perceived neighborhood disorder, via delinquent peers and peer victimization. These findings offer new insight into the consequences of perceived neighborhood disorder for health and wellbeing.

Violent Victimization and Violence Perpetration Among American Indian Adolescents.

In the current study, we propose an integrative approach, which will incorporate elements from the social learning and self-control theories of delinquency and crime to examine violence in an understudied, marginalized, and often discriminated subpopulation group-American Indian youth. The analysis is based on survey data collected between 2009 and 2013 from a sample of American Indian adolescents (N = 3,380) enrolled in 27 school districts located in five regions of the United States (Northern Plains, Southwest, Upper Great Lakes, Southeast/Texas, and the Northeast). The main objective of the analysis is to identify the factors more likely to predict violent offending among American Indian adolescents, a vulnerable group that has an elevated risk of violent victimization. Results of the Tobit regression analysis indicate that in both gender groups a low level of self-control, association with delinquent friends, poor school performance, and underage alcohol consumption significantly predict violence perpetration. Nonetheless, experience with direct violent victimization has the largest effect on male and female adolescents' violent behavior. Although living with both biological parents and childhood exposure to domestic violence do not influence significantly the adolescents' aggressive behavior, parental monitoring does have a significant violence-deterrent effect in both gender groups. Findings suggest that more opportunities should be created for indigenous communities to control their education systems and ensure American Indian students achieve academic success, which is one of the violence protective factors identified in this study. Moreover, measures meant to prevent youth violence in American Indian communities should also focus on parents/caregivers who, directly and indirectly, have the capacity to reduce the adolescents' risk of becoming victims and/or perpetrators of violence.

Immigrant Background and Crime Among Young People: An Examination of the Importance of Delinquent Friends Based on National Self-Report Data

In this article we examine whether different agents of socialization—family, school, and peers—are differentially associated with offending among different immigrant groups. Our expectation is to find that the association between delinquent friends and offending is stronger for first- and second-generation immigrants than for youths of native Swedish background. We use data from four nationally representative self-report studies of 21,504 adolescents with an average age of 15 years in Sweden. The results show that both first- and second-generation immigrants report committing more offenses than natives. The association is rather weak and the two predictors account for only a marginal amount of the variance in total offending. The results also show that the association between delinquent friends and offending is stronger for both first- and second-generation immigrants than for natives.

A Group Randomized Trial of School-Based Teen Courts to Address the School to Prison Pipeline, Reduce Aggression and Violence, and Enhance School Safety in Middle and High School Students

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the efficacy of School-Based Teen Courts (SBTCs) using a rigorous experimental trial with 24 middle- and high-schools randomly selected to receive SBTCs (n= 12) or to business-as-usual without any SBTC program (n = 12). Analyses examined school-level longitudinal growth models and individual-level pretest-posttest comparisons on school climate, student problems, and suspension rates. Longitudinal growth models revealed that SBTCs were significantly associated with positive changes in school satisfaction and reductions in delinquent friends for high school students, but showed no significant changes on other outcomes. Short-term suspensions decreased more than twice as much in SBTC schools versus comparison schools. There was a 47% reduction in bullying victimization in SBTC schools relative to a 22% reduction in comparison schools. These findings suggest that SBTCs have the potential to positively impact youth development.

Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Behavior Among Nigerian Middle School Students.

School bullying has received considerable criminological, psychological, educational, and governmental attention. However, much of the attention is focused on bullying in western, Asian, and Scandinavian countries. There appears to be scant, if any, attention paid to this problem on the African continent. Using cross-sectional data from a sample of 1,192 junior secondary school (middle school) students in Nigeria, this study examines the prevalence and correlates of bullying in this sample of secondary school students in Nigeria. Bullying prevalence rate in this sample was 59.9%. The study finds that males were more likely to bully than females, and the most prevalent form of bullying behavior for both genders was making fun of someone. Correlates for bullying perpetration were association with delinquent friends, negative school climate, attending a private school, and ethnicity.

INDIVIDUAL RISK FACTORS AMONG YOUTH OFFENDERS PRIOR AND DURING INCARCERATION: MACEDONIAN CASE

Much research has been done related to the influence of the prison environment on the convicted persons, the role and significance of the rehabilitation treatment, the characteristics of the inmates and their connection with the processes of adaptation and the negative consequences of the pains of imprisonment. This research is based on several theories within criminology and penology and one of them being the importation model. This model highlights the importance of the characteristics of inmates, their ethnicity, individual risk factors, previous socialization, internal value system, delinquent friends, criminal history, education and the influence of these characteristics on adaptation processes in prison facilities. The importation theory proposes that the previous life, criminal career and other risk factors shape the way in which young inmates adapt and behave in the institution. This paper will look at the importation theory by examining certain individual personal and family risk factors of young inmates and the impact of these factors prior to and during incarceration in an educational correctional facility. The analysis is based on qualitative data collected by conducting in depth interviews with young inmates to capture their attitudes and experiences in relation to these factors. The survey presumes that these risk factors that contributed to crimes outside are also risk factors that influence institutional adjustments and behaviour of the inmates.

Beyond deviancy-training: Deviant adolescent friendships and long-term social development.

Adolescent association with deviant and delinquent friends was examined for its roots in coercive parent-teen interactions and its links to functional difficulties extending beyond delinquent behavior and into adulthood. A community sample of 184 adolescents was followed from age 13 to age 27, with collateral data obtained from close friends, classmates, and parents. Even after accounting for adolescent levels of delinquent and deviant behavior, association with deviant friends was predicted by coercive parent-teen interactions and then linked to declining functioning with peers during adolescence and greater internalizing and externalizing symptoms and poorer overall adjustment in adulthood. Results are interpreted as suggesting that association with deviant friends may disrupt a core developmental task-establishing positive relationships with peers-with implications that extend well beyond deviancy-training effects.