Volunteering in adolescence and young adulthood crime involvement: a longitudinal analysis from the add health study

Abstract

BackgroundExperiences in adolescence may have a lasting impact on adulthood. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between adolescent (12–18 years of age) volunteerism with the incidence of illegal behaviors, arrests, and convictions in adulthood (>18 years of age).MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study using secondary data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Students from grades 7–12 were recruited in 1994–1995 (n = 20,745), and then followed in 2001–2002 (n = 14,322) and in 2008–2009 (n = 12,288). In 2000–2001, participants were retrospectively asked about their volunteering experience from 12 to 18 years of age. Consequently, participants were divided into non-volunteers, self-volunteers, adult-required volunteers, and court-ordered volunteers. Groups were compared for rates of illegal behaviors, arrest, and convictions in adulthood (>18 years of age) using weighted generalized linear mixed negative binomial models while accounting for sampling design.ResultsRelative to non-volunteers, self-volunteers reported 11 % fewer illegal behaviors (RR: 0.89, 95 % CI: 0.80, 0.99), 31 % fewer arrests (RR: 0.69, 95 %: 0.57, 0.85), and 39 % fewer convictions (RR: 0.61, 95 % CI: 0.47, 0.79) by age 18–28 years, and 28 % fewer illegal behaviors, 53 % fewer arrests, and 36 % fewer convictions by age 24–34. In comparison the adult-required volunteers also reported fewer arrests and convictions; however, they reported more illegal behaviors than the non-volunteers. The court-ordered volunteers reported higher rates of criminal involvement than the non-volunteers, throughout.ConclusionThis study suggests that volunteering in adolescence may reduce crime involvement in adulthood.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40621-016-0091-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Identifying and Addressing Confounding Bias in Violence Prevention Research

“…In contrast, utilizing a DAG explicitly examines all potential pathways through which confounding may arise [4,7,[38][39][40]. This helps address bias not only in the data analyses phase, but also in the study design phase.…”

“…Another well-known method of identifying the covariates needed to control confounding is drawing a directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). However, the use of this method in violence research to date has been limited [4,7,32,[37][38][39][40]. A DAG allows the investigator to identify causal and non-causal paths of association between a risk/protective factor and an outcome of interest.…”

Volunteerism as a Tool for Preventing Deviant Behavior in Adolescents

“…В 2016 г. в США было проведено первое исследование, посвященное изучению долгосрочной связи между волонтерской деятельностью подростков (в возрасте 12-18 лет) и распространенностью девиантного поведения, арестов и осуждений во взрослом возрасте (более 18 лет) [23]. Результаты показывают, что те, кто занимался волонтерской деятельностью в подростковом возрасте совершали на 11% меньше антисоциальных действий, имели на 31% меньше арестов и на 39% меньше тюремных сроков в возрасте 18-28 лет; на 28% меньше антисоциальных действий, на 53% меньше арестов и на 36% меньше обвинительных приговоров в возрасте 24-34 лет, по сравнению с теми, кто не принимал участия в добровольческой работе.…”

“…В этом же исследовании отмечалось, что волонтеры-подростки, участвовавшие в работе по решению суда, а не по собственному желанию, имели более высокий уровень преступного поведения по сравнению с добровольцами [8]. Эти участники также имели самый высокий средний показатель правонарушений и были отстранены от занятий и исключены из школы чаще, чем любая другая группа на исходном уровне [23]. Выше уже упоминалось, что факт добровольности играет одну из решающих ролей в использовании волонтерства для улучшения жизни подростков из групп риска или демонстрирующих девиантное поведение.…”

Digital Design Considerations for Volunteer Recruitment

“…Society can also experience secondary benefits from the personal changes experienced by the volunteer. Volunteers have lower mortality rates [3,10], socialise more [39], form better emotional attachments [69], achieve a stronger personal sense of accomplishment [70], and are less likely to be involved in criminal activity in adulthood [44,59]. Volunteering can also improve occupational achievement [67], which in turn facilitates entry into paid work.…”