Delinquency compared across samples: Young migrants, majority youths and juveniles in the countries of origin.

• In Event: Testing Theory and Exploring Crimes of High Public Concern through Cross-National Research (ISRD)

Abstract

In this paper, ISRD results will be compared for 4 Balkan countries (Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; consolidated N=6'269), Swiss students in general (N=4'158) and students in Switzerland with at least one parent born in former Yugoslavia (N=423). Comparing these three samples, we see that, e.g., correlations between delinquency and family and school variables, leisure-time/going out and substance use differ across countries. For example, a dysfunctional family may cause more damage in a Western country (like Switzerland) than in a more traditional society where other adults play a more significant role in bringing up children. Further, given the high relevance of delinquency among minorities as a theme in Western Europe and worries that crime may be “imported” from other World regions, the three samples offer a rare chance to compare minority students with their "cousins" growing up in their parents' home countries and local youths in their country of residence. (About 10 percent of students in Switzerland have at least one parent who arrived from Ex-Yugoslavia.) As it turns out, delinquency is higher among minorities from Balkan countries than among the youth population in general, in Switzerland as well as in the 4 Balkan countries.

Authors

• Martin Killias, University of St. Gallen Switzerland

• Anastasiia Monnet-Lukash, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland