Citation

Stattin H, Romelsjö A, Stenbacka M. Br. J. Criminol. 1997; 37(2): 198-223.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Within the frame of a protective-factors approach, an analysis of the role played by resource factors at the age of 18 for future risk of criminality was performed. Both behavioural and home-background risks were studied. The study group consisted of 7,577 Swedish conscripts followed in official registers from the age of 18 through to the age of 36. The hypothesis was advanced that among subjects with few behavioural risks at the age of 18, resource factors (physical, emotional, social, and cognitive factors relating to the individual) would have relatively limited consequences for future delinquency. However, among subjects with a history of adjustment problems, having strong resources available might counteract adverse behavioural factors. In line with the hypothesis, among subjects with high behavioural risk, those with no strong personal resources were convicted considerably more often in later life than their counterparts with many resources. This was as true for subjects with few home-background risks as for those with many. Few differences with regard to conviction rate were found between subjects with few and those with many documented resources among low-risk individuals. Analyses of the separate resource measures revealed that, among subjects with high behavioural risk, those with documented high resources with regard to intellectual capacity, emotional stability, social maturity and psychic energy were convicted significantly less often than high-risk subjects with no documented strong resources. It is concluded that greater attention should be paid in criminological research to individuals' risks and resources in analysing and making prognoses of criminality. (Abstract Adapted from Source: British Journal of Criminology, 1997. Copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press)

Sweden
Foreign Countries
Individual Protective Factors
Life Course
Longitudinal Studies
1960s
1970s
1980s
Adult Male
Adult Crime
Juvenile Male
Juvenile Crime
Juvenile Offender
Adult Offender
Male Offender
Male Crime
Crime Causes
Cohort Studies
Crime Risk Factors
Late Adolescence
12-01