Social factors and offending

How does cross sectional research work in development of offending

• Looks for differences between offenders and non offenders

• Or between different groups of offenders

• Data is collected at just one time point

How does longitudinal research work in development of offending

• Follows individuals over a period of time, multiple data collection points

• Identifies predictors/risk factors

• Retrospective vs prospective design

What is the Cambridge study

• Longitudinal study started in 1961

• Followed 411 boys from 19-61 years

• Participants were from London but research was conducted in Cambridge

• The boys were followed up from the age of 8 and collected criminal records and information up to 61 years

• Found data on convictions from official records and self reports

What did the Cambridge study find

• 20% of participants were convinced as juveniles

• By 25 years, around 33% were convicted

• Childhood predictors of later offending included poor parenting and family criminality

How do 2 types of child rearing/parenting predict offending

• Child rearing/parenting styles:

• Looks at behaviours of parent child interactions overall

• Dimensions of parenting:

• Looks at discipline and behaviours and the children individually

What is an authoritarian child parenting style

• “Do as I say”

• Values obedience and favours punitive punishment

• Children usually are socially incompetent and have low self esteem

What is an authoritative child parenting styles

• “Do as I ask”

• Uses inductive style of discipline

• Children usually come out socially competent and self assured

What is a permissive parenting style

• “Do what you want”

• Prefers to allow children freedom of expression

• Children are usually impulsive and have low academic attainment

• More antisocial behaviour

What is a rejecting neglectful child parenting style

• “I don’t care what you do”

• Children are neglected

• Children usually have low social competence and low academic attainment More antisocial

• More drug use

What are the control and support parenting dimensions

• Control, behaviours to “control” a child’s behaviour

• Support, behaviours that make a child feel accepted/approved

What are the different types of control discipline

• Lax discipline

• Inconsistent discipline

• Harsh discipline

What is lax discipline

• Permissive, a few rules with low supervision

• Associated with later delinquency due to poor understanding of boundaries

What is inconsistent discipline

• Erratic discipline

• Unpredictable enforcement of rules, rules and consequences are applied unevenly

• May cause rebellious behaviour

• Creates confusion about expectation and consequences

What is harsh discipline

• Physically or verbally punitive, controlling

• Leads to coercive family interactions

• Children will respond to harshness with defiance which escalates parental punishment

• Increases risk of aggression, antisocial behaviour and delinquency

What are the different types of control supervision

• Knowledge of child’s behaviour and whereabouts

• Setting of rules and ensuring they are adhered to

• Indirect as well as direct supervision

• Need a source of knowledge about what the child is doing eg asking the child for information

• Poor supervision is associated with delinquency

What is delinquency

A minor crime especially committed by young people

How is the support by the parent/carer important

• Warm parental/carer child interactions are needed for strong attachment

• Savage (2014) reported that weak attachments to parent/carers are associated with higher levels of offending and violence

• Emotionally Cold and rejecting parenting is associated with offending

Mother vs father parenting style

• Previous researchers has less emphasis on fathers

• Parent child dyads

• Same gender eg mother and daughter

• Opposite gender eg father and daughter

• Fathers tend to have more of an impact on their sons behaviour due to them being more likely to model them

Meta analysis by Pinquart on parenting and offending (2017)

• Found that all dimensions of parenting are associated with delinquency/offending

• Strongest effect size for harsh control and psychological control

• Strong effect size for authoritarian, permissive and neglectful parenting

• Small effect size for parental warmth, behavioural control, autonomy granting (whether the child was given autonomy at a certain age) and authoritative parenting style

• Small effect size linked with low level of anti social behaviour

Child abuse and neglect

• Victims of abuse are more likely to:

• Have a criminal record

• Be convicted of non violent offences

• Be convicted of violent offences

Maxfield and Widom (1996) US longitudinal study on abuse and neglect

• 908 cases of child abuse or neglect from court records

• 667 comparison groups matched on dob, race, sex and social class

• Victims of abuse/neglect are 49% more likely to have been arrested than the comparison group (38%)

• Victims of abuse/neglect are 18% more likely to have been arrested for violence than comparison group (14%)

Milaniak and Widom follow up study (2015)

• Follow up data on perpetration of criminal violence and child abuse

• Victims of abuse/neglect are more likely than comparison group to be arrested for and/or

• Self reported criminal violence

• Self reported child abuse perpetration

• Self report intimate partner violence

What cognitive style might be responsible for child abuse and violence

• Poor coping styles and problem solving skills

• Social information processing patterns, how we perceive interactions

• Emotional desensitisation to pain

• Learn that violence is a way to get what they want, social learning theory

How does the environment influence child abuse and violence

• Changes in family environment that have negative behavioural effects eg being placed in care

• Victims become labelled

Research issues involved with child abuse

• Identification of cases, how/from where

• Official records

• Self report

• Reports from others (who?)

• Under reporting