IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i18p11197-d908216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Trauma Exacerbate Criminal Behavior? An Exploratory Study of Child Maltreatment and Chronic Offending in a Sample of Chinese Juvenile Offenders

Author

Listed:
  • Xuening Yao

    (Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macau SAR 999078, China)

  • Hongwei Zhang

    (School of Humanities, Jinan University, Zhuhai Campus, Zhuhai 519070, China)

  • Ruohui Zhao

    (Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macau SAR 999078, China)

Abstract

(1) Background: Maltreated children are at increased risk for juvenile delinquency. Extant research has explored the effect of child maltreatment on either the initial risk of juvenile delinquency or general juvenile recidivism. However, little is known regarding the effect of child maltreatment on chronic offending. (2) Methods: Using a sample of 695 male juvenile offenders incarcerated in a centralized juvenile reformatory of the province X located in Southwest China, this study investigates both the prevalence of child maltreatment and the effect of child maltreatment on chronic offending among the juvenile offenders. Descriptive statistical analyses and multinomial logistic regression were utilized to conduct the analyses. (3) Results: A vast majority of the juvenile offenders experienced at least one type of child maltreatment. Moreover, maltreatment was generally found to be more prevalent in chronic offenders than in one-time offenders and recidivists. Results from a series of logistic regression analyses revealed that among five specific maltreatment types, only physical abuse exerted a statistically significant and positive impact on chronic offending. (4) Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of providing early prevention and intervention programs to juvenile offenders who were physically abused in order to reduce general chronic offending as well as chronic violent offending.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuening Yao & Hongwei Zhang & Ruohui Zhao, 2022. "Does Trauma Exacerbate Criminal Behavior? An Exploratory Study of Child Maltreatment and Chronic Offending in a Sample of Chinese Juvenile Offenders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11197-:d:908216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11197/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11197/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennings, Wesley G. & Loeber, Rolf & Ahonen, Lia & Piquero, Alex R. & Farrington, David P., 2018. "An examination of developmental patterns of chronic offending from self-report records and official data: Evidence from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (PGS)," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 71-79.
    2. Ryan, Joseph P. & Testa, Mark F., 2005. "Child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency: Investigating the role of placement and placement instability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 227-249, March.
    3. Janet Currie & Erdal Tekin, 2012. "Understanding the Cycle: Childhood Maltreatment and Future Crime," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(2), pages 509-549.
    4. Fan, Xiaoyan & Lu, Mengjia, 2020. "Testing the effect of perceived social support on left-behind children’s mental well-being in mainland China: The mediation role of resilience," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoon, Miyoung & Bender, Anna E. & Park, Jiho, 2018. "The association between out-of-home placement and offending behavior among maltreated youth: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 263-281.
    2. Simmons-Horton, Sherri Y., 2017. "Providing age-appropriate activities for youth in foster care: Policy implementation process in three states," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 383-391.
    3. Dianna T. Kenny & Susan Blacker & Mark Allerton, 2014. "Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter : A Review of Attachment and Other Developmental Processes Inherent in Identified Risk Factors for Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Offending," Laws, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-30, July.
    4. Sheerin, Kaitlin M. & Modrowski, Crosby A. & Williamson, Shannon & Kemp, Kathleen A., 2022. "The effect of sexual concerns on placement changes and school transfers for youth in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    5. Alloush, Mo & Bloem, Jeffrey R., 2022. "Neighborhood violence, poverty, and psychological well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Francisco Cabrera-Hernández & Marí­a Padilla-Romo, 2020. "Hidden Violence: How COVID-19 School Closures Reduced the Reporting of Child Maltreatment," Working Papers 2020-02, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    7. Spielfogel, Jill E. & Leathers, Sonya J. & Christian, Errick & McMeel, Lorri S., 2011. "Parent management training, relationships with agency staff, and child mental health: Urban foster parents' perspectives," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2366-2374.
    8. Fletcher Jason M. & Schurer Stefanie, 2017. "Origins of Adulthood Personality: The Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 1-22, April.
    9. Violeta Misheva & Dinand Webbink & Nicholas G. Martin, 2017. "The effect of child maltreatment on illegal and problematic behaviour: new evidence on the ‘cycle of violence’ using twins data," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 1035-1067, October.
    10. Ryan, Joseph P. & Hong, Jun Sung & Herz, Denise & Hernandez, Pedro M., 2010. "Kinship foster care and the risk of juvenile delinquency," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1823-1830, December.
    11. Barn, Ravinder & Tan, Jo-Pei, 2012. "Foster youth and crime: Employing general strain theory to promote understanding," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 212-220.
    12. Maguire-Jack, Kathryn & Hardi, Felicia & Stormer, Bri & Lee, Joyce Y. & Feely, Megan & Rostad, Whitney & Ford, Derek C. & Merrick, Melissa T. & Murphy, Catherine A. & Bart. Klika, J., 2022. "Early childhood education and care policies in the U.S. And their impact on family violence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    13. Gabriella Conti & Elena Pizzo & Stephen Morris & Mariya Melnychuk, 2021. "The economic costs of child maltreatment in UK," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3087-3105, December.
    14. White, Kevin R. & Wu, Qi, 2014. "Application of the life course perspective in child welfare research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 146-154.
    15. Tam, Christina C. & Abrams, Laura S. & Freisthler, Bridget & Ryan, Joseph P., 2016. "Juvenile justice sentencing: Do gender and child welfare involvement matter?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 60-65.
    16. Lee, Madeline Y. & Jonson-Reid, Melissa, 2009. "Needs and outcomes for low income youth in special education: Variations by emotional disturbance diagnosis and child welfare contact," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 722-731, July.
    17. Sheridan, Kathryn & Haight, Wendy L. & Cleeland, Leah, 2011. "The role of grandparents in preventing aggressive and other externalizing behavior problems in children from rural, methamphetamine-involved families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1583-1591, September.
    18. Dionissi Aliprantis, 2017. "Human capital in the inner city," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1125-1169, November.
    19. Janet Currie & Michael Mueller-Smith & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2022. "Violence While in Utero: The Impact of Assaults during Pregnancy on Birth Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 525-540, May.
    20. Ryan, Joseph P. & Herz, Denise & Hernandez, Pedro M. & Marshall, Jane Marie, 2007. "Maltreatment and delinquency: Investigating child welfare bias in juvenile justice processing," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1035-1050, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11197-:d:908216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.