Thoughtfully-reflective decisions and selection of peer contexts: An indirect path away from delinquency

• In Event: Context, Virtual Reality and Decision Making

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of heightened susceptibility to peers and social contexts, and avoiding criminogenic peers and situations is imperative at this age. Those who engage in thoughtfully reflective decision-making (TRDM) are hypothesized to take more deliberate steps to shape their social environments, and as such may avoid such risks. TRDM is negatively associated with delinquency, and this association is partially mediated by greater selection into forms of prosocial capital, such as investments in education, hobbies, and caregiver relationships (Paternoster & Pogarky, 2009; Paternoster et al., 2011). TRDM may impact the friendships and social contexts that adolescents select in a similar manner. In this project, I use longitudinal social network data from the PROSPER Peers project, which collected survey data from adolescents from 6th-12th grade in (semi)rural public schools in Pennsylvania and Iowa. With cross-lagged panel models, I examine whether adolescents who make more thoughtful, deliberate, and reflective decisions are more likely to select prosocial friendships and avoid risky social situations, and whether this partially or fully explains the relationship between TRDM and delinquency.

Author

• Jessica Deitzer, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law