Disrupting the link between maltreatment and delinquency: how school, family, and community factors can be protective

Abstract

Background Past experiences of childhood maltreatment are common for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. This paper explores potential protective factors at the peer, family, school, and neighborhood levels that disrupt the relationship between maltreatment and later non-violent and violent offending behavior and how these protective effects vary by a number of different sociodemographics. Methods We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative longitudinal study of adolescents who were in grades 7–12 in the 1994–95 school year. Pulling data from Add Health respondents from ages 13 to 30, we used linear mixed effects modeling to create growth curves of predicted violent and non-violent offending frequency from adolescence into young adulthood, with maltreatment frequency as a predictor. Next, we tested whether potential protective factors including time with friends, a high-quality relationship with a parent figure, school connection, or neighborhood collective efficacy moderated the intercept or slope of the growth curves. Finally, we tested if sex, race/ethnicity, or sexual orientation moderated these protective effects. Results For violent offending, school connection, high-quality relationships with mother or father figures, and neighborhood collective efficacy were all generally protective, meaning they were associated with lower levels and shallower slopes of predicted violent offending, but they were not more or less protective for those who experienced maltreatment. For non-violent offending, the same was true of school connection, high-quality relationships with a mother figure, and neighborhood collective efficacy, which were all generally protective. We found no evidence of a protective effect for time spent with friends, though this is likely due to measurement constraints, as simply measuring time spent with friends may have heterogeneous effects on delinquent behaviors. We found no evidence that any of these protective effects varied by sociodemographics. Conclusions This paper identifies factors that teachers, juvenile corrections officers, policymakers and others can intervene on to prevent engagement (or re-engagement) in delinquency and offending among youth and young adults who experienced maltreatment. As they are also protective for youth who have not experienced maltreatment they also inform general delinquency prevention efforts.

Adverse childhood experiences and psychological distress among higher education students in Southeast Nigeria: an institutional-based cross-sectional study

“…For instance, Sidebotham et al [71] and Thornberry et al [72] reported that these risk factors manifest across diverse spheres such as parental background, individual, family environment, and socioeconomic context. This finding agrees with previous studies [5,11,14,67,73]. These findings indicate the need to identify and further explore the roles of multiple risk factors for childhood adversities and their direct links to poor psychological health outcomes in the youth population with more emphasis on developing nations because the clustering of multiple risk factors increases the likelihood of ACEs [72,73].…”

“…This finding agrees with previous studies [5,11,14,67,73]. These findings indicate the need to identify and further explore the roles of multiple risk factors for childhood adversities and their direct links to poor psychological health outcomes in the youth population with more emphasis on developing nations because the clustering of multiple risk factors increases the likelihood of ACEs [72,73]. Also, evidence-based interventions to increase family income and improve parental education are necessary for Nigeria at the policy-making level.…”

Forças que interferem no enfrentamento da violência infantil pela escola

“…Divergindo das condutas e posturas assumidas pelos professores que participaram dessa pesquisa, estudos apontam a escola como cenário propício para implementar forças que impulsionam a proteção à criança em risco ou situação de violência (Bright, et al, 2020;Del Campo & Fávero, 2020;Cordeiro, et al, 2019), e os professores como atores sociais importantes para o adequado funcionamento da rede (Macedo, et al, 2019;Wilkinson, et al, 2019).…”

“…Vislumbrado a escola como cenário potencial para a prevenção da violência contra a criança (Bright, et al, 2020;Wilkinson, et al, 2019), essa pesquisa objetivou identificar forças que interferem no enfrentamento da violência infantil pela escola. Acredita-se que dar visibilidade aos fatores que restringem e impulsionam o enfrentamento da violência pode colaborar para estratégias capazes, efetivamente, de interromper o clico da violência contra a criança e tornar a escola protagonista nesse processo.…”

Staying alive: A 21st century agenda for mental health, child protection and forensic services

“…Experiencing danger in infancy and childhood without protection and comfort by parents is therefore expected to generate more erroneous transformations than danger in adulthood (Opendak et al, 2017; Perry et al, 2017). We propose that facing danger with outdated or erroneous transformations lies at the root of mental illness, child maltreatment and criminality (Baetz and Widom, 2020; Crittenden, 1999; Wilkinson et al, 2019). That is, danger itself does not lead to maladaptive behaviour or psychological trauma; instead, erroneous information about danger creates these risks.…”