NCJ Number
191415
Journal
Issues in Mental Health Nursing Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2001 Pages: 197-205
Date Published
March 2001
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined predictor variables that would contribute toward an explanatory model linking child abuse and neglect and the level of adolescent juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
The study focused on individual, family, and community characteristics that would predict greater criminality in a juvenile delinquent population. The study involved a secondary data analysis on a sample of 355 youths committed and detained by a juvenile justice system in the northeast. The study used logistic regression analysis to predict serious criminal outcomes. Results revealed that this technique correctly classified 73 percent of the cases and that 10 variables remained in the model to predict serious juvenile criminal behavior. Youth who had been exposed to community violence or who had a mother with mental illness were four times as likely as other youth to commit serious criminal behaviors. Overall, exposure to community violence, compounded by criminal and drug abusing behavior by the youths themselves, reinforced the link between parental behavior and child outcomes. Findings indicated the need for further research on child neglect, demonstrated that familial patterns exist, and reinforced the need for practitioners to expand their interventions beyond the individual to include family members as they try to influence the process that leads to child criminal outcomes. Figures, table, and 19 references (Author abstract modified)