NCJ Number
191995
Journal
Criminology Volume: 39 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2001 Pages: 799-836
Date Published
November 2001
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This study examined research on the relationship between mental health and crime and tested hypotheses regarding depression and crime in early adulthood using longitudinal data from the National Youth Survey.
Abstract
The analysis integrates arguments from differential social control theory with sociological research on mental health to develop an interactionist explanation of the relationship between law violation and depression. The discussion focuses on the possibility that law violation and depression are related because they share common antecedents, as well as the possibility that these problems mutually influence one another over time. The study used covariance structure analysis and panel data to test hypotheses derived from the theoretical perspective. The data came from interviews conducted in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, and 1983 with 1,550 youth ages 11 to 17 years at the time of the first interview, as well as their parents. The youth participants ranged from 18 to 24 years of age at the time of the 1983 interviews. Results revealed that the relationship between law violation and depression could be explained largely by common antecedents, in that social-structural positions, stressful life events, and adolescent problems shape social relationships and identities, which together influence the likelihood of both early adulthood crime and depression. Results also revealed limited support for the mutual influence of these problems. The analysis concluded that law violation and depression are significantly positively associated in early adulthood and that it is useful to synthesize research in mental health and criminology. Tables, figure, footnotes, appended methodological information, and 98 references (Author abstract modified)