Browsing by Subject "nuorisorikollisuus"
Now showing items 1-5 of 5
-
(2015)Study goal: The goal of this study was to examine the association between psychopathic traits in juvenile delinquents and developmental factors. In previous studies the focus has been mainly on neurobiological etiological factors predicting psychopathic traits. Based on the limited amount of developmental research it was adequate to examine the impact of the affective tone in the parental-child relationship and especially mother's hostile parenting style to psychopathic traits. Additionally it was examined if socio-emotional development linking to early states of psychological development and affection, and emotional reactivity were linking to psychopathy. Methods: The original sample consisted of North American juvenile delinquents boys aged 14-19 years (k=1354) which was part of large a Pathways to Desistance survey. In this study the sample consisted of 1123 boys. Associations between psychopathic traits and other variables were first examined through correlational study and univariate analysis of variance. Secondly stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted and finally discrimination analysis. For the discrimination analysis the sample was divided in two based on persons scored low and high in psychopathic traits (low<25, high=>25) for testing the strength of predictive variables emerged with regression analysis to discriminate persons accurately into classes low or high in psychopathy. Results and conclusions: Results showed that mother's hostile parenting style was significantly associated with psychopathic traits. Additionally socio-emotional development was significantly associated with psychopathic traits. Findings highlight that the more hostile is the mother-child relationship the higher will psychopathic traits be. Additionally low temperance with problems in impulse control and suppression of aggression predicted prevalence of high psychopathic traits. The hypothesis based on previous studies about associations between emotional reactivity and psychopathy didn't gain any significant relevance based on present study. Neither did emotional self-regulation connect to psychopathy with this sample in this study.
-
(2015)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.
-
(2014)Objectives: Juvenile delinquency and substance use are significant social problems. Delinquency and substance use started in adolescence often lead to lifetime persistent behavior patterns. According to previous research the most important individual factor in relation to juvenile delinquency and substance use is personality and one of the most important environmental factors in relation to these behaviors is parental monitoring. In this study I tried to replicate earlier results on the links of personality and parental monitoring with juvenile delinquency and substance use. Moreover I examined the quality of interactions between the Big Five personality traits and parental monitoring in relation to juvenile delinquency and substance use; these interactions have not been studied comprehensively before. Methods: Data for this study was taken from the Finnish national delinquency survey from 2012 collected by the National Research Institute of Legal Policy. The sample consisted of 8914 Finnish 6th and 9th grade pupils (age range 12–17). I analyzed the amount of self-reported criminal acts from the previous year in three classes of crime: aggressive and non-aggressive criminal acts as well as substance use (incl. alcohol use). I used multinomial logistic regression to examine the links of the Big Five personality dimensions, parental monitoring and their interactions to different classes of criminal acts. In each class of crime I compared separately occasional and repetitive offenders to those who reported minimal amounts of criminal acts. Results and conclusions: Parental monitoring had strong positive links to all classes of crime independent of the amount of criminal acts. Agreeableness and conscientiousness had negative relationships with all criminal behavior following previous research. Extraversion in turn had positive relations to all crime contrary to many previous results. Personality traits and parental monitoring had two separate kinds of interactions: in many occasions when parental monitoring was lower some personality trait was reduced in its power to predict criminal acts; contrary to this the positive relationship of extraversion to repetitive aggressive crime raised as parental monitoring decreased in amount. The significance of parental monitoring in relation to juvenile delinquency and substance use is highlighted in my results. According to my results it will be profitable to put effort in reinforcing parental monitoring to fight juvenile delinquency and substance use.
-
(2015)Various studies have established that juvenile delinqency is often characterized by group nature. Although co-offending is the most common criminal style during adolescence, solo offenders exists too. Previous studies have shown differences in terms of criminal style, including age and typical offenses. The aim of this study is to explore if there can be found differences regarding the personality structure. We expected to find a more criminal personality profile in solo offenders compared to co-offenders, since co-offending delinquency has been considered in the literature even as a normal phenomenon in adolescence. Furthermore, we expected youths with mixed criminal style to differ the most from other groups in terms of neuroticism, conscientiousness and agreeableness. The data is drawn from the national Finnish Youth Crime Survey 2012 (N = 4855). Personality was assessed with the shortened Big Five Inventory (BFI-S) and delinquency was measured by involvement in five different types of criminal behavior. Criminal style was assessed by asking the youths if they did the offense in question alone or in company of one or more offenders. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) and logistic regression were used to examine the personality profiles and differences between youths representing different criminal styles. Contrary to the hypothesis, solo offenders and co-offenders differed only regarding extraversion. However, when analyzing the results at the offense type level, the results showed preliminary differences concerning other traits. In line with previous studies, the most common offenses for co-offenders were crimes against property, while for solo offenders crime against persons was the most typical offense. As hypothesized, youths with mixed criminal style differed most strongly from the other groups in terms of personality traits. The findings of the study suggest, that to understand why some youths choose to act on their own in the matter of delinquency, we need to study other factors in addition to personality traits.
-
(2016)Objectives. A relatively small group of people are responsible for disproportionate amount of offenses which cause significant monetary and societal costs. It has been important to recognize different risk and protective factors for chronic offending in youth to develop effective treatment and preventive strategies. One subgroup of offenders who commit many offenses are individuals with high psychopathic traits. However, not all psychopathic individuals commit crimes and some seem well adjusted to society. High intelligence is considered as a protective factor from chronic offending. This study examines the relationship of psychopathic traits and intelligence on juvenile delinquency with seven-year long follow up design. Methods. The data of the study was employed from the Pathways to Desistance longitudinal study which material was collected in between 2000 - 2010. The sample included all male juvenile offenders (n=1170) from the cities of Phoenix and Philadelphia in the United States of America. The participants were 14 - 19 of age at the beginning of the study and 21 - 26 at the end. Psychopathic traits were assessed with PCL:YV and intelligence with WASI. The relationship of psychopathic traits and intelligence on delinquency was examined with binary logistic regression analysis. As well as the moderating effect of intelligence on the relationship between psychopathic traits and delinquency. Delinquency was assessed separately for violent and income related crimes based on the self-report of the participants with SRO method. Results and conclusions. High psychopathic traits were related to a higher risk for both violent and income offending in every measurement year of the seven year follow up. In addition, high psychopathic traits were related to a higher risk for faster rate of recidivism and to the continuity of criminal activity. Intelligence did not have either increasing or decreasing effect on delinquency and it did not have any moderating effect on the relationship between psychopathic traits and delinquency. However, further studies are needed to examine more closely the observed relationships, possible mediating factors and other risk and protective factors for crime. The results indicate that the risk and protective factors for delinquency in youth with high psychopathic traits needs to be intervened as early as possible to achieve effective treatment and preventive results.
Now showing items 1-5 of 5