Objective: To examine the structure of emotions and affective dysregulation in juvenile delinquents. Method: Fifty-six juvenile delinquents from a local juvenile hall and 169 subjects from a local high school were recruited for this study. All participants completed psychometric testing for trait emotions followed by measurements of state emotions…

Delinquent youth display weaker attachment to their parents than do other youth, but the reasons for this remain unclear. One explanation is that delinquent youth poison their relations with parents by lying to them about their friends, behavior, whereabouts, and more. Analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health…

Although boys engage in more delinquent and criminal acts than do girls, female delinquency is on the rise. In 1980, boys were four times as likely as girls to be arrested; today they are only twice as likely to be arrested. In this article, the author explores how the juvenile justice system is and should be responding to the adolescent female…

Six types of antisocial and delinquent behaviors (e.g., property destruction and authority avoidance) were assessed in 526 youths (11 to 24 years of age) with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities and 1,030 11- to 18-year-olds without intellectual disabilities. Overall, 10% to 20% of youths with intellectual disabilities exhibited some type…

In this two-wave prospective study, the authors investigated whether level of dispositional affective empathy moderated the association between parental support and antisocial behavior in early adolescents. The sample consisted of 823 Dutch boys and girls (mean age = 12.8 years) enrolled in the first year of secondary education. Higher levels of…

Although conventional wisdom suggests that organized sport deters delinquency by building character, structuring adolescents' time, and providing incentives for socially approved behavior, the empirical evidence to date has been mixed. Based on a sample of approximately 600 Western New York adolescents, the present study examined how self-reported…

Confronted with widely publicized accounts of assaults by juvenile sex offenders against fellow students or school staff members, several states are grappling with the issue of how to balance a student's right to an education with the threat that such a student may pose. Legislatures and agencies in several states, such as Arkansas, New Mexico,…

Youth who present anti-social behavior need powerful interventions that strengthen empathy, counter negative peer influence, and challenge thinking errors. This article recaps some key points about EQUIP, a Positive Peer Culture (PPC)-based cognitive behavioral intervention program for behaviorally at-risk youth, and notes how the program has…

This article discusses school vandalism and presents one approach school communities are taking. (RC)

This study examined the extent to which antisocial behavior, parenting, and school connectedness moderated the association between peer deviancy in preadolescence and externalizing problems in early adolescence. The participants included 500 boys and girls, most of them African Americans. Peer deviancy was measured with teacher reports of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among students' disruptive and violent behavior and staff's use of proactive and reactive strategies in a secure residential treatment center serving delinquent adolescent males. One hundred hours of observational data were collected, and linear regression models were used to explore the…

This study examines the effects of childhood-onset conduct disorder on later antisocial behavior and street victimization among a group of homeless and runaway adolescents. Four hundred twenty-eight homeless and runaway youth were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters from four Midwestern states. Key findings include the following.…

Most dominant theories of crime and criminality underscore the saliency of the family in the etiology of offending behaviors. Recently, a small pool of research has suggested that elements of the family, especially parents, do not have a lasting impact on children. This line of inquiry argues that once the effects that the child has on the family…

The study attempted to clarify the role of empathy in the development of antisocial and aggressive delinquent behavior in 331 delinquents and 64 nondelinquent controls ages 12 to 18 years. The delinquents were found to be significantly delayed or arrested in the development of empathy. (Author)

This bulletin presents research on why youth join gangs and how a community can build gang prevention and intervention services. The author summarizes recent literature on gang formation and identifies promising and effective programs for gang prevention. The following are some key findings: (1) Youth join gangs for protection, enjoyment, respect,…