Adolescent delinquency and health.

• Author: Wade, Terrance J.
• Position: Canada

Les risques que vivent les adolescents dans leur milieu socio-structurel se conjuguent-ils pour en faire des personnes plus susceptibles de subir de multiples consequencees nefastes? En s'inspirant de la theorie du controle, les auteurs evaluent (1) dans quelle mesure les facteurs de risque servent a predire une large gamme de consequences au niveau du comportement criminel ou de la sante, et (2) dans quelle mesure ces consequences sont reliees les unes aux autres sur le plan temporel. Pour ce faire, ils exploitent des donnees provenant des deux premieres series de l'Enquete longitudinale nationale sur la sante des adolescents (N = 4 834), etude qui est disponible au grand public. Or, selon les resultats de leurs recherches, les facteurs de risque servant a predire des comportements delinquants tels que la violence, l'agression et le dommage aux biens servent egalement a predire la depression ainsi que les problemes percus de sante et l'usage de la cigarette, de l'alcool, de la marijuana et des drogues dures. Par ailleurs, la plupart des consequences sont interreliees et pourraient donc constituer des manifestations comorbides de l'exposition au risque. Enfin, les auteurs etablissent des liens temporels entre l'usage de la cigarette et la depression; entre l'usage de la cigarette et de la marijuana, d'une part, et l'usage des drogues dures, d'autre part; entre les problemes percus de sante et l'usage de l'alcool, de la marijuana et des drogues dures; et entre la delinquance sous forme de nuisance publique et l'usage de l'alcool et de la marijuana.

Epidemiological and clinical research has found a tendency among adolescents toward the clustering of substance abuse and mental health problems (Costello, Erkanli, Federman, and Angold 1999), delinquency (Steinhausen, Meier, and Angst 1998) and conduct disorder (Offord, Boyle, Fleming, Blum, and Grant 1989). The clustering of these outcomes suggests the possibility of a common underlying disposition. It also raises the question of whether or not there is a temporal ordering among these various outcomes. Most work that examines the clustering of health problems and problematic behaviours among adolescents is cross-sectional, providing no indication as to any potential temporal ordering. This analysis examines, within a criminological theoretical framework, the underlying processes that may account for this broad array of co-occurring health problems, substance use, and delinquent outcomes and assesses the potential temporal ordering among them.

There is a long history in the criminological literature that identifies social structural factors such as socio-economic standing and family composition, as well as the social dynamics among parents and children, as playing a crucial role in the development of children's behaviour problems, delinquency, and drug use (e.g., Glueck and Glueck 1950; Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber 1986; Miller 1997). Hirschi (1969), in his original social bond theory, argued that the developmental correlates of conformity--attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief--that are inculcated within the family domain produce law-abiding citizens. The failure of the family institution through parental unavailability or poor child-parent relations results in a deficit in the bonds between the child and his or her family and society. As a consequence, Hirschi concluded, children lacking these bonds are more likely to engage in risky activities and criminality because they do not develop a vested interest in their community.

In subsequent work, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) further spell out this personal disposition among children. They argue that parental nurturance, discipline, and training in the early childhood years are essential to the development of strong internal self-control among children. Ineffective child-rearing, nurturance, and parental discipline inhibit the development of high levels of self-control among children. Further, they argue that ineffective parenting on all levels is, in part, a consequence of structural disadvantage, providing a rationale as to why these behaviours cluster disproportionately across social classes.

Parallel work in other domains has theorized a similar process to explain health and health behaviour problems. Specifically, Bowlby (1969), in his theory of attachment, identified a similar process whereby young children who do not develop a strong attachment to a parent or other adult figure are more likely to manifest mental health problems later in life. Work by Jessor and colleagues (Jessor and Jessor 1977; Donovan and Jessor 1985) on problem behaviour theory also identifies a connection between structural disadvantage, proximal family processes, and adolescent risk- and health-behaviour problems. Jessor argues that the development of a syndrome (one described in similar terms to self-control) predisposes some children to be more prone to a diverse array of problem behaviours such as substance use, delinquency, risky sexual behaviour, and risky driving behaviour. Sameroff (1998), in the Rochester Longitudinal Study, also finds that exposure to noxious factors throughout the early life cycle cascades to create youths more likely to participate in risky behaviours such as unsafe sex, delinquency and crime, substance use, and school failure.

Low self-control, as proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) and elaborated by others (Grasmick, Tittle, Bursik, and Arneklev 1993) has four central characteristics. First, it is relatively stable over long periods and, once developed, persists throughout the life course. Second, the types of behaviours resulting from this deficit include both criminal and analogous non-criminal acts, guided by the impulsive need for immediate gratification of desires coupled with preferences for risky activities. For example, people possessing low levels of self-control are more likely to experience unplanned pregnancies, to be involved in accidents, to be unemployed, to use social welfare services, and to die at a younger age. Third, these various behaviours are not causally predictive of one another but are multiple outcomes of this underlying trait. Finally, while an accumulation of these behaviours indicates a low level of self-control, it is not possible to predict which specific behaviours will manifest during the life course. In other words, people possessing this trait have an increased likelihood of engaging in various criminal behaviours, but this engagement, while sufficient, is not a necessary component of low self-control. People possessing low self control are also more likely than others to engage in non-criminogenic risky behaviour. The deciding factor is opportunity coupled with an irrational impulsiveness and the immediate need to satisfy desires.

Sampson and Laub (1993) extend the work of Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), arguing that institutions beyond the family, such as school, marriage, and work, connect the individual to society, preventing delinquency and criminogenic behaviours. This more long-term developmental approach, while acknowledging the importance of the family as the central institution in the early years of a child's life, emphasizes the importance of bonding to other institutions as a resource to compensate for absent or negative parental relations and bonds. In this context, the presence of personal bonds of emotional interdependence and role reciprocity outside the family of origin provide additional social and psychological resources that individuals can draw upon to help temper impulsive and irrational decision making as they navigate through life.

The process involved in the development of this disposition, whether it be described as low self-control (Gottfredson and Hirschi) or as a syndrome (Jessor), appears also to be linked with several outcomes beyond delinquency, substance use, and risk-taking behaviour, including both mental and physical health, as in Bowlby's work on deficits in attachment or Garmezy's (1991, 1993) and Sameroff's (1995) work on resilience and vulnerability.

A series of community-based studies found that children experiencing socio-economic disadvantage are more likely to manifest mental health deficits (e.g., Langner, McCarthy, Gersten, Simcha-Fagan, and Eisenberg 1979; Offord, Boyle, and Jones 1987; Offord, Boyle, and Racine 1989; Rutter, 1973) and poor physical health perceptions (Mechanic and Hansell 1987; Vingilis, Wade, and Adlaf 1998; Vingilis, Wade, and Seeley 2000, 2002; Wade and Vingilis 1999; Wade, Pevalin, and Vingilis 2000). Single-parent family composition and family disruption, as well as high levels of conflict, are also predictors of both poor physical health perceptions and poor mental health (e.g., Furstenberg, Brooks-Gunn, and Morgan 1987; Hetherington, Cox, and Cox 1982; Peterson and Zill 1986; Rutter 1971) and appear to be distal socio-economic factors (Amato and Keith 1991; Gotlib and Avison 1993). Finally, children who rate their relationship with parents positively and express a positive scholastic experience are also more likely to report better physical health (Mechanic and Hansell 1989) and better mental health (Wade 2001).

A few studies have attempted to connect the co-occurrence of various outcomes as multiple outcomes of this process (Chassin, Pitts, DeLucia, and Todd 1999; Hansell and White 1991; Herman, Dornbusch, Herron, and Herting 1997; Mason and Windle 2002; Sameroff 1998; Wade 2001; Windle and Windle 2001). Mason and Windle (2002) used data from a four-wave American sample of high school students in New York state to test a latent variable model of substance misuse and delinquency. They found evidence of a reciprocal relationship between substance misuse and future delinquency and concluded that these activities may be mutually reinforcing. Windle and Windle (2001), using data from a similar sample of American high school students, examined the relationship between...