|
Abstract
|
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this research by Zingraff et al. was to examine the relationship between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental design to study a sample of maltreated children and two comparison groups, one of non-maltreated children an impoverished children. The samples were drawn randomly from three populations. The maltreatment sample was taken from the North Carolina Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect. Time span of the study was from Oct. 1983 to the end of June 1989. A random sample of one in three was done. 655 children were analyzed in this report. Children were delineated by type of abuse including, physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and frequency of maltreatment. The researchers dre smaller random samples of general school population and the total child case loa of the county Division of Social Services for comparison. Delinquency was measured when a complaint was made to the juvenile court. Age, race, and family structure were the control variables included.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Maltreated children compared to the school children sample were significantly more likely to have delinquency complaints. When age, race, gender and family structure were taken into account, the effects of the maltreatment type was reduced. Maltreated children were also found to be at higher risk for delinquency when compared to nonmaltreated poor children. This relationship is reduced to statistical insignificance when background factors are considered. Th researchers found that specific type or frequency of maltreatment of children di not effect delinquency, but that the overall experience of maltreatment placed children at a statistically significant increased risk for delinquency. The findings indicate that the risk of delinquency for maltreated children stated by much of the previous research had been exaggerated. The authors believe that the high rates of delinquency for maltreated children reported in the past stem from poorly designed research and inadequate methodology. Weaknesses of past studies included unrepresentative samples of delinquents, the lack of comparison samples failure to control for known suspected correlates of delinquency, and retrospective research designs have inflated the apparent risk of delinquency.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors suggested that further research address two questions: "What is it about the maltreatment experience that puts children at risk of status offending?" and "To what extent do services provided to status offenders interrupt decrease, or conceivably increase the likelihood of subsequent and more serious juvenile misconduct?"
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - North Carolina
KW - Child Abuse Victim
KW - Child Victim
KW - Child Abuse Effects
KW - Child Abuse-Delinquency Link
KW - Child Abuse-Crime Link
KW - Child Neglect Effects
KW - Child Neglect Victim
KW - Child Physical Abuse Effects
KW - Child Physical Abuse Victim
KW - Child Sexual Abuse Effects
KW - Child Sexual Abuse Victim
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Crime
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
KW - Crime Causes
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Domestic Violence Victim
KW - Domestic Violence Effects
KW - Incest Effects
KW - Incest Victim
KW - Sexual Assault Effects
KW - Sexual Assault Victim
Language: en |