NCJ Number
226417
Journal
European Journal of Criminology Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2009 Pages: 5-23
Date Published
January 2009
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examined individual differences in lifestyle risk which has direct effects on juvenile offending.
Abstract
Research revealed both similarities and differences in the magnitude of direct and indirect effects of explanatory variables between subgroups by gender and immigrant background. Family structure was a weak predictor with respect to individual differences in lifestyle risk in all subgroups; family structure had a very indirect effect in explaining differences in lifestyle risk. The explained variance of this variable is therefore very low in all subgroups. This suggests that it is much more important to focus on variables that refer to causal mechanisms. The introduction of informal controls significantly improves the explained variance in lifestyle risk and the model fit in all subgroups. The effects of informal controls on lifestyle risk are partially mediated by propensity to offend, a tendency found in all subgroups. Propensity to offend is the strongest direct predictor of lifestyle risk in all subgroups, with the exception of the Swedish girls’ subgroup. Both informal controls and propensity to offend are not only stable correlates of offending, but also seem to relate to lifestyle risk in a similar way. Data were collected from 2,486 young adolescents in 23 schools in Belgium and 1,003 adolescents in 13 schools in Sweden. Tables, appendix, and references