Predicting juvenile delinquency: The nexus of childhood maltreatment, depression and bipolar disorder

Abstract

Background It is important to identify and provide preventative interventions for youth who are most at risk for offending behaviour, but the connection between early childhood or adolescent experiences and later delinquency adjudication is complicated.Aim To test for associations between specified mental disorders or maltreatment and later delinquency adjudication.Method Participants were a random sample of youth before the juvenile courts in two Northeast Ohio counties in the USA (n = 555) over a 4‐year time frame (2003 to 2006).Results Logistic regression analysis identified a lifetime diagnosis of depression and/or bipolar disorder to be predictive of later youth delinquency adjudication, but found that childhood maltreatment (or involvement with the child welfare system) made delinquency outcomes less likely.Implications Study implications are discussed as they relate to professionals working in the fields of child welfare, social work, mental health and juvenile justice. Awareness of risks associated with maltreatment may have led to effective interventions, while there may be less awareness of risks from depression in young people; however, studies tend not to take account of intervention variables. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adolescent Mental Health Research in Macau

“…Researches found that the adolescent influenced by depression and anxiety achieved lower level of social skill, self-esteem, and academic performance [4] [5]. They were also easier to have problematic behaviors, criminal behaviors [6] [7], and mental health problems [8]. These may be related to the idea that how to value children's behavior in Chinese society.…”

Explicating Correlates of Juvenile Offender Detention Length: The Impact of Race, Mental Health Difficulties, Maltreatment, Offense Type, and Court Dispositions

“…Mental health difficulties are linked to later youth offending behavior and delinquency adjudication, though it is not clear if this link is direct or if these difficulties lead to other risk factors or poor decision-making (Grisso, 2008;Heilbrum, Goldstein, and Redding, 2005;Mallett, Stoddard-Dare, and Seck, 2009). Early childhood aggressive behaviors have been found predictive of later delinquent activities (Kashani, Jones, Bumby, and Thomas, 1999;Tremblay and LeMarquand, 2001).…”

Classifying Violent Versus Nonviolent Offending in a Diverse Sample of Adolescent Juvenile Delinquents

“…Research has also found that a substantial proportion of individuals in the juvenile delinquency population meet diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric disorder, with estimates ranging from 40-70% (Fazel et al, 2008;Mallett, Dare, & Seck, 2009;Skowyra & Cocozza, 2006). Several mental health conditions have been linked empirically to juvenile delinquency (Courneau & Lanctôt, 2004;Loeber & Keenan, 1994).…”

“…For example, hyperactivity and attention deficits have been linked to risk-taking behaviors and violent offending (Hawkins et al, 1998). Childhood depression has been linked to stealing and physical aggression (Loeber & Keenan, 1994;Mallett et al, 2009). The most common psychiatric disorders found among the juvenile delinquency population include externalizing disorders such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, as well as substance use, anxiety, and mood disorders (Skowyra & Cocozza, 2006).…”