NCJ Number
170937
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: (1997) Pages: 369-400
Date Published
1997
Length
32 pages
Annotation
Cross-sectional and 12-year prospective data from a community sample assessed in late adolescence (age 18) and again in adulthood (age 30) were used to test the delinquency theories of family socialization, pseudomaturity, and self-derogation.
Abstract
A total of 478 individuals provided data at both age 18 and age 30. Eleven scales were selected to measure three latent constructs of general deviance, psychological distress, and family support/bonding. Eleven scales were selected from the adult follow-up to capture two latent factors of general deviance and psychological distress. All of the hypotheses and expected findings received some support in the data analyses. The findings confirm that general deviance and psychological distress were significantly correlated for both men and women and are, therefore, overlapping and comorbid disorders. Both general distress and psychological distress were significantly predicted by family support/bonding in cross-sectional analyses for men and women; family support/bonding fully accounted for the cross- sectional association between general deviance and psychological distress for men and substantially reduced the association between these constructs for the women. Over time family support/bonding reduced psychological distress for the women and general deviance for the men. Both theories of pseudomaturity and self-derogation explained many of the prospective effects from late adolescence into adulthood. Sexual involvement, although an indicator of general deviance, related negatively with indicators of psychological distress. Different patterns were evident for the developmental periods of adolescence compared with adulthood, and many of the processes differed by sex. 6 tables, 6 figures, and 63 references