Examining Violent Behavior in Incarcerated Adolescent Males

• In Event: 477 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Children, Youth, and Violence 2

Abstract

This exploratory study used anonymous self-reports with established measures to investigate if childhood physical neglect impacted violent behavior of 85 random incarcerated males between 12 - 19 years of age at a private detention facility. Most were African American (58%) or White non-Hispanic (20%) from low income single parent homes.
The dependent variable in a hierarchical regression was a 4-item index of adolescent violent behavior (α = .61) that loaded on one component in factor analysis ( >.53). Block one included age; race; self-esteem; self-efficacy; and depression scales. None were significantly related to adolescent violent behavior. Block two added a 10-item history of chemical drug use (α = .79). Controlling for block one variables, chemical drug use significantly explained 30.7% of the variance in adolescent violent behavior (R2 = .307, p < .001).
A childhood history of physical neglect in block three was measured by a five-item index (α = .88). Twenty-five (29.4%) of the 85 incarcerated adolescents had experienced physical neglect but no other maltreatment. The remaining 60 subjects had either experienced no type of maltreatment, physical or psychological maltreatment, or a combination of maltreatment types. Experiencing only childhood physical neglect raised the explained variance in adolescent violent behavior to 48.4% (R-square = .484, p < .001). Unstandardized beta coefficients showed childhood physical neglect was the strongest predictor of violent behavior in this sample.
A colorful and informative poster designed to stimulate inquiry includes introduction, methods, and results sections, with tables, shortcomings, application, and suggestions for future research.

Authors

• William M. McGuigan, Pennsylvania State University

• Jack Luchette, Pennsylvania State University-Shenango

• Roxanne Atterholt, Pennsylvania State University-Shenango