The Negative and Positive Influences that Delinquent Contacts Have on Youth

• In Event: Protective and Risk Factors for Delinquency and Drug Use

Abstract

Research on delinquency has gradually integrated a greater focus on the network features of youth. Whereas contacts in crime and conventional bonds have been part of the criminological enterprise for quite some time, these two sides have not always been merged. Recent work suggests that there are benefits in scrutinizing the overlap between the conventional and non-conventional spheres of a youth’s entourage. Some have also gone as far as to state that we cannot simply associate conventional and crime-oriented contacts as, respectively, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ contacts. The current research pursues this nuance further by examining data on 240 male and female youth that were interviewed within a community-based survey. The analysis combines risk and protection factors with network measures of a youth’s social entourage. The main finding illustrates that participation in delinquent acts is associated more with the proportion of offenders found in a youth’s entourage than with traditional risk factors. However, when probing further into the level of trust, support, and respect that youth perceive in their interpersonal networks, these delinquent contacts also had positive influences in shaping a strong identity – and sometimes more so than non-delinquent contacts.

Authors

• Carlo Morselli, University de Montreal

• Claudine Gagnon, Université de Montréal