Citation

Siennick SE. Criminology 2007; 45(3): 583-615.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Society of Criminology)

DOI

10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00091.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Why is juvenile delinquency associated with depression in young adulthood? One possibility is that delinquency interferes with socioeco-nomic attainment and disrupts entry into adult roles, perhaps because of official labeling processes or adolescent socialization into deviance, and these repercussions of delinquency lead to depression. Another possibility is that grown delinquents may show high levels of depression because they tend to offend in adulthood, and adult offenders tend to be depressed. I use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine the timing and mechanisms of the offending-depression relationship. The results suggest that delinquency is negatively associated with later status attainment and that the status attainment deficits of grown delinquents are not fully explained by justice system contacts or by adolescent delinquent peer influence. A portion of the longitudinal delinquency-depression link is explained by the low levels of education of grown delinquents and by their involvement with the justice system. Still, young adult depression is more closely tied to recent offending than it is to juvenile delinquency, official labeling, or the status attainment consequences of delinquency.