Social Factors & Offending

What are risk factors?

Things asc with and/or predictive of later offending

What are causal rs?

how does a rf cause the offending and its dv

Why is it imp to understand what factors might be asc with antisocial bv/offending?

imp to know how and why these bvs develop to inform dv of prevention and intervention programme

Why is theory taught to us?

easy to ddesc research findings but the role of psych is to explain research findings

What does cross sectional research inv?

looks for dfrs bt offenders and non-offender or bt diff grps of offenders

data collected at just one time point

What does longitudinal research inv?

follows indvs over a period of time with multiple date collection points

identifies predictors and rfs because you have that temporal sequence

can look at dvlpmental sequences - what sort of order do these things happen in

look at scs bt key dv times/seqs and offending

What types of research are within LR?

retrospective and prospective design

What is one of the big longitudinal studies in the UK?

The Cambridge Study of Delinquent Dv which followed up 411 boys from London in 1961 from the ages of 8 yo, then 10, 14 etc.

collected info from parents, teachers etc., and had their criminal records followed (still ongoing)

What is good abt the Cambridge Study?

low attrition rate - they are still collecting data in a v high no. ppl

What did the CS find?

abt 20% pps were convicted as juveniles, by 25 yrs, around 33% convicted

found childhood predictors of later offending - poor parental child-rearing, parental conflict, family criminality, socioeconomic deprivation, poor academic performance, hyperactivity, impulsivity and attention deficits 

What are the approaches at looking at child-rearing?

looking at parenting styles - bvs that set context of parent child interactions - looks at overall

dimensions of parenting - diff but interacting aspects of parenting - looks at individual

What are the 4 diff styles of child rearing/parenting styles?

authoritarian - do as i say - value obedience and favour punitive punishment

authoritative - do as i ask - use inductive style of discipline

permissive - do what you want - prefer to allow cdr freedom of expression

rejecting-neglectful - i dont care what you do - cdr are neglected

What are the outcomes of parenting styles?

authoritarian - low social competence, self esteem and academic attainment, unhappy, unfriendly

authoritative - socially competent, self assured, low antisocial bv, low drug use

permissive - impulsive, low AA, more ASB

RN - low sc, AA, dpr, ASB and drug use

What are the 2 dimensions of parenting?

control - bvs to control a child’s bv (not neg)

support - bvs that make a child feel accepted/approved/loved

What are elements of the control dimension?

discipline, supervision

What are the bv outcomes of discipline?

lax, erratic and harsh dcp all asc w/ later delinquency

lax discipline - lack of internalised constraints on bv

inconsistent dcp - less likely to perceive dcp as fair and not follow

harsh dcp - coercive family interactions due to repeated reprimands and punitive punishment

effective dcp - inductive dcp, parents expl why bv is wrong

What happens as dcp increases in severity?

impact on bv increases exponentially, increases level of ASB

What abt discipline has been looked at closer?

whether context of wider parent child rs impacts on how effective dcp is or not

e.g. harsh dcp with a col/rejecting PCR is found to be more damaging to bv than same dcp but warm PCR

What is supervision? (2)

knowledge of child'‘s bv and whereabouts

setting of rules and ensuring they are adhered to

What type of supervision is there?

direct - i.e. being there physically esp when they are young

indirect - know when yr child is somewhere else, they are behaving in a pro-social way so you want them to internalise those bv constraints from when they were younger (active monitoring, asking child for info etc)

What is ppor supervision asc with?

delinquency bc if a child lacks those internalised constraints then that has a longer term outcome

What are elements of the support dimension?

parental/carer warmth

What is needed for strong attachment? (2)

warm parent/carer- child interactions

Savage (2014) review reported that weak attachments to parents/carers are asc with higher lvls of offending and violence

What type of parenting is asc with offending?

emotionally cold and rejecting

What else could have an impact on bv?

relative importance of mother vs fathers parenting and the parent-child dyads (if they’re the same or opp gender)

What did Pinquart’s (2017) meta analysis show?

all dimensions of parenting are asc w/ delinquency/offending

strongest effect size for sharsh ctrl and psych ctrl (discipline element)

strong ES for parenting style (authoritarion, perm, and neg)

small ES for parental warmth, behavioural ctrl, autonomy granting and authoritative PS 

What else did Pinquart’s MA look at?

a range of moderator variables sa gender dfrs, parent-child gender dyads and child age

What are victims of abuse more likely to do?

have a crim record, be convicted of violent and non-violent offences

What did Maxfield & Widom (1996) do?

a longitudinal study with 908 cases of child abuse/neglect from court record and then had 667 pps in a comparison grp who were sort of similar in terms of age, ethnicity, sex and social class

What did M&W find?

follow up data collected 22-26 years later and found victims of abuse/neglect (49%) are more likely to have been arrested than in comparison grp (38%)

vtms of a/n (18%) more likely to have been arrested for violence than CG (14%)

child maltreatment under 12y sig predicted self-reported violence at 14-18yrs

cdr physically abused upto 11 yrs had elevated risk of becoming a violent offender

What did M & W do in 2015?

collected follow up data on perpetration of crim violence, child abuse and intimate partner violence

victims of a/n more likely than cg to be arrested for crim violence and child abuse perpetration and self report IPV

victims of a/n (32.5%) higher rates of committing violence in more than 1 domain than cg (22.7%)

What did M & W’s (1996) review conclude

review concluded that physical abuse as a child predicts both later violent and non violent offending

What might explain/account for the asc bt child abuse and later violent bv?

changes in an indv’s cog style (way of thinking)

changes in the env

How can cognition expl the asc bt CA and VBV?

may leave the child to have poor coping styles and problem solving skills

may impact how we process social information 

may become emotionally desensitised to pain

learn that violence is a way to get what they want - modelling bv

How can the env expl the asc bt CA and VBV?

changes in family env that can have neg bv effects sa being placed in care

victimes can become labelled so their bv becomes more apparent bc ppl are aware that something is going o

What are some research issues with cases involving child abuse?

issue with how pps come from - is it from official records, self report, reports from others? - who is identifying that grp of people who have experienced violence?

research may only be with the most severe cases used in research

What elements of family structure can have effects on offending? (3)

disrupted family

family ASB/offending bv

family size

What evidence is there about a disrupted family and offending?

established link bt parental divorce/separation and later delinquency/offending

single parenthood asc with d/o

What do we need to identify with DF?

what is they key issue? - the lead up to the separation or the actual separation itself

What can parental conflict cause?

spillover of emotion can lead to disrupted child rearing practices which impacts on children’s cognitions (attributions abt PC, are they they attributing it to themselves or something else?) and emotions (disrupt emotional attachments to parents)

How is ASB/criminal family members linked to offending?

parents who are criminal and AS tend to have delinquent cdr who go on to offend

Farrington, Barnes and Lambert (1996) - 6% of families accounted for half of convictions (UK)

Farrington et al. (2001) - less than 10% of families accounted for over 40% of arrest

older siblings can also have an influence

Why does having criminal family mean you are more likely to offend?

modelling of ASB and failure to provide models of pro social bv

crim parents may have less effective/provide disrupted child rearing skills

young siblings model older siblings or may be coerced to participate by older siblings

impact of shared env stressors like socioeconomic deprivation or poor neighbourhood

genetic factors, with predisposition to aggressive bv sa predisp to impulsivity

assortative mating - ppl are more likely to have cdr w/ ppl who are similar

labeling of crim families by police

What does research show abt family size?

that del/off is asc w/ larger families bc …

each child receives less parental time and supervision

interaction and emotional involvement in smaller families is more intense

delinquency is learned through asc w/ delinquent siblings