What Factors Increase or Decrease Boys’ Risk of Juvenile Delinquency?
Individual risk factors for juvenile delinquency include:
- Early aggressive behavior
- Restlessness and concentration problems
- Substance abuse
- Association with antisocial peers
- Participation in unstructured leisure activities
Ways families, schools, and communities can aggravate the risk of juvenile delinquency:
- Childhood maltreatment
- Ineffective or dysfunctional parenting
- Parental criminality
- Truancy and dropping out of school
- Exposure to community violence
- Poverty
Factors that help protect young people from the risk of juvenile delinquency include:
- Attachments to family or family support
- Parental monitoring
- Strong feelings of accountability or perceived risk of punishment for misbehavior
- Positive social and community activities
- High academic achievement or school connectedness
- Mentoring relationships and positive role models
- Low neighborhood crime rate