Browsing by Subject "delinquency"

Goals. Juvenile delinquency has inspired many different theories on the causes of crime. At this moment, there is enough evidence to believe that there are at least two subgroups of juveniles, with different developmental pathways to criminal involvement. In the field of criminology there has been concern on the pattern of criminal offending which has lead to hypothesis regarding offence specialization versus versatility. Majority of research conducted to this day suggest that juveniles are versatile offenders who engage in all types of criminal or antisocial behaviors. However, the developmental view anticipate different pattern of offending for different subgroups of delinquent youths. This study focuses on individual differences in crime according to Big Five personality traits. The Big Five has been used in several studies of crime and personality and the relationship between them has been well documented. However, little is known how personality traits are related to different types of crime. The purpose of this study is to explore how personality traits are related to different types of crime and furthermore are there differences in offence specialization versus versatility according to personality traits. Methods. This study employs the data from the nationwide survey on youth crime and victimization conducted by the National Research Institute of Legal Policy. A total of 4855 ninth grade students completed a self-report survey questionnaire. The BFI-S (Big Five inventory short) personality instrument was used to measure personality traits. This study investigates personality traits in relation to four crime types: 1) property offences, 2) theft, 3) violence and 4) alcohol and drug use. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore whether the versatility hypothesis of criminal acts holds true according to personality traits. Results and conclusions. Conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion were found to be associated with crime among students, which was in line with the previous research. In addition, the result suggested that personality traits are differently linked to different types of crime. Risk for engaging in alcohol and drug use was characterized by high extraversion and low conscientiousness whereas low agreeableness was found to increase the risk for violent offending. Theoretically the results of this study are interpreted as a counter evidence for versatility hypothesis on the nature of juvenile delinquency, even though no direct evidence for the offence specialization was found. Still, juvenile delinquency might not be as versatile behavior as it has been considered but moreover, individuals with different personality characteristics may be prone towards different types of delinquent acts. The role of violence as the most "pathological" form of antisocial behavior is discussed in relation of previous theory and research as well as the findings of this study.