Frequency of Parental Violence Against Children in Chinese Families: Impact of Age and Gender

The present study examines the impact of child and parent gender on parental violence across age span of children and their parents in Hong Kong Chinese families. A randomly selected community sample of 1,019 households was surveyed. Results indicate that, in general, boys experience more frequent parental violence than girls and mothers engage in more violent behaviors against their children than fathers. Parental violence shows a curvilinear pattern with age of children, peaking at age 8 for boys and age 3 for girls. There is a pattern of declining frequency of parental violence as parental age increases across child gender. Fathers exhibit an inverted U pattern of violent behavior against their children, with a peak around age 31–40, while mothers have a steadily declining trend until age 46. Separate parental violence indices are constructed for boys and girls.     

Growth curves of deviant behavior in early adolescence: A multilevel analysis

Multilevel growth curve models provide a means of analyzing individual differences in the growth of deviance, allow a number of theories to be integrated in a single model, and can help to unify research on deviant/delinquent/criminal careers at different stages of the life cycle. Building on the distinction between population heterogeneity and state dependence as alternative explanations of persistent individual differences in deviance (Heckman, 1981; Nagin and Paternoster, 1991), we show that models with two levels can be used to represent and analyze a variety of criminological theories. The first level (level 1) uses repeated measurements on individuals to estimate individual-level growth curves. The second level treats the level 1 growth curve parameters (e.g., slope, intercept) as outcome variables and uses time-invariant factors to explain variation in these parameters across individuals. We illustrate this approach by estimating a model of growth in deviance drawn from Gottfredson and Hirschi's deviant propensity theory. An innovative feature is the assumption that adolescents' expected growth curves of deviance follow a classical Pearl-Verhulst logistic growth model (Pearl, 1930). The results suggest that five risk factors—parental psychiatric problems, lack of parental support, living arrangements with zero or one parent in residence, low family income, and male gender—have strongly positive effects on deviant propensity. For example, adolescents with no supportive parents, and no other risk factors, have expected asymptotic levels of deviance (peak levels attained at about age 18) that are about twice as high as those of adolescents with no risk factors. Yet more than two-thirds of the individual-level variability in growth curves is unexplained by the five risk factors. This unobserved heterogeneity would remain hidden in analyses using conventional structural equations models and the same explanatory variables.     

Pubertal timing and adolescent delinquency†

Early pubertal timing (PT) increases the risk of adolescent delinquency, whereas late development reduces this risk; however, the mechanisms explaining PT effects on delinquency remain elusive. Theoretically, the PT–delinquency relationship is as a result of changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body-image perceptions or is a spurious reflection of early life risk factors. Using intergenerational data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a prospective sample of children followed from infancy to age 14 years in the United Kingdom (N = 11,556 parent–child pairs), we find that for both boys and girls, early PT is associated with heightened risks of delinquency, relative to on-time puberty, whereas late PT is associated with lower risks, even after controlling for a large share of childhood confounders. Mediation test results indicate that changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body-image perceptions from ages 11 to 14 partly account for associations between off-time PT and delinquency. Our findings are most consistent with criminological theories in which the psychosocial, familial, and peer group changes that accompany off-time pubertal development are emphasized. Changes in peer substance use, in particular, were the primary explanatory factor for the relationships between early and late PT and delinquency, for both boys and girls.     

Heterogeneity in the association between social-emotional adjustment profiles and deviant behavior among male and female serious juvenile offenders

This article examines the relation among gender, social-emotional adjustment, and deviant behavior among serious juvenile offenders. A sample of 105 adolescent offenders completed questionnaires assessing social-emotional characteristics and self-reported involvement in deviant behaviors. Results indicate significant associations between distress and restraint in predicting deviance, a finding that was invariant across gender. Analysis of four distinct social-emotional profiles found that membership in the reactive group was associated with the greatest amount of deviant behavior. Results also indicate that not only do serious offending girls internalize more than serious offending boys, they appear equally likely to externalize. However, although boys exhibit less distress than girls, those boys who report high rates of deviance may exhibit internalizing and externalizing problems similar to girls. The use of social-emotional measures in general, and distinct profiles in particular, may aid in targeting specific programming and treatment in an effort to provide offenders with more effective interventions.     

Behavior Problems in Children Exposed to Wife Abuse: Gender Differences

Family aggression patterns and behavior problems of children, aged 6-12, recruited from shelters for battered women (shelter group) were contrasted with three comparison groups of currently nonviolent families: two-parent, single-mother, and homeless. Girls who had been exposed to recent interparental wife abuse were predicted to show more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems than similarly exposed boys, based on recent literature. Homeless and shelter mothers reported the highest rates of parent-child aggression. Shelter girls obtained significantly higher total, internalizing and externalizing behavior problem ratings than shelter boys, and than two-parent and single-mother girls. Shelter boys obtained significantly higher internalizing ratings than two-parent boys. Shelter and homeless children were rated as having equivalent levels of behaviour problems. Across all groups, mothers' psychological adjustment was a better predictor of daughters' adjustment than that of sons. The study concluded that the assumption that preadolescent girls have greater immunity to psychosocial risk is unfounded.     

Violent girls in adolescent forensic care are more often psychotic and traumatized than boys in the same level of care

Background: Most research on violent perpetrators is based on male samples. Aims: To compare girls and boys admitted to an adolescent forensic unit due to physically violent and/or sexually coercive behavior. Methods: On an adolescent forensic ward, demographics, family, treatment, crime and victimization histories, diagnose, psychiatric symptoms and violent behaviors during care of all adolescents are collected in a cumulative database. These were compared between girls and boys admitted due to violent behaviors. Results: Girls were more often diagnosed with schizophrenia group psychoses. The symptom profiles and violence risk ratings did not differ by sex. The girls were less antisocial in general. They were more suicidal and displayed more promiscuous behaviors, and they had more commonly been victims of sexual abuse. During inpatient care they displayed much more often violent and uncontrollable behaviors than the boys. Conclusion: Treatment approaches that respond to the special needs of aggressive girls are required.     

Girl Members of Deviant Youth Groups,Offending Behaviour and Victimisation: Results from the ISRD2 in Italy and Switzerland

Although a lot of research has been conducted on the delinquency of boys who are members of gangs, only a few quantitative studies have analysed the involvement of girl gang members in delinquency and its link with victimisation. In this study, the prevalence rates of girls who are members of gangs in Italy and in Switzerland are shown. We compared the Italian data (N = 5.784) and Swiss data (N = 3.459) from the second wave of the International Self-Reported Delinquency Study (ISRD-2); the population used for this comparison was made up of teenagers from the ages of 13 to 16. Members of deviant youth groups accounted for 5.7% of the Italian sample and 4.7% of the Swiss sample; in both countries, about a third of gang members were girls. In general, girls who are members of gangs commit more delinquent acts than both girls and boys who are not members of gangs. Girl gang members are also more often victimised than girls and boys who are not members of a deviant youth group.     

Early traumatization and psychopathy in female and male juvenile offenders

Childhood traumatization is expected to have a significant impact on the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior in adulthood. Psychopathy as a syndrome that can predict future violent and aggressive behavior in adults is therefore believed to be associated with early traumatization. The association between early childhood victimization and violence might at least be mediated through psychopathy. The present study examined the relationship between early emotional, physical or sexual trauma and neglect and psychopathy in incarcerated delinquent female and male juveniles using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Psychopathy Checklist—Youth Version (PCL-YV). A sample of detained adolescents (n = 185) was compared to adolescent students (n = 98). Also, gender differences were analyzed with respect to the association of trauma and psychopathy. As expected, our analyses revealed higher scores of traumatization in delinquent juveniles compared to school adolescents. Hypothesized relationships between physical traumatization and the PCL-YV total score could be confirmed among criminal boys, but not among delinquent girls. Results, therefore, indicated that an association exists between early physical, but also emotional traumatic experience and psychopathy in detained boys. In girls, however, other family-related variables, such as non-parental living arrangements, seemed to be more influential in developing the psychopathy syndrome than traumatization.     

Gender Role and Gender as Predictors of Behavior Problems in Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are likely to develop behavior problems, but findings are mixed regarding whether girls and boys are differentially affected. Bem (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 634–643, 1975) argued that gender role is an important predictor of mental health, and this relationship may differ for males and females due to societal gender norms. Given the gendered nature of IPV, we examined whether gender role interacted with gender to predict behavior problems in IPV-exposed children (n = 176). Among four-year-old children, gender-typed gender roles were a risk factor for girls but not boys, and androgynous gender roles were protective for both boys and girls on average. However, post hoc analyses indicated the amount of IPV exposure mattered; androgynous girls exposed to chronic IPV had more behavior problems. Results illustrate the importance of societal and family gender norms in determining children’s risk for behavior problems following exposure to IPV.     

Deviant Youth Groups in Italy and France: Prevalence and Characteristics

This paper sets out to compare the existence of Juvenile deviant groups in both France and Italy and their characteristics. The comparison between Italy (N = 5,236) and France (N = 3, 353) is based on the ISRD study of the year 2006 and shows that the term “gang” is commonly used to refer to a group of friends only. The strongest associated variables in both countries to illegal acts are the acceptance of doing illegal things, taking part in delinquent acts, considering the group as a gang as well as spending a lot of time in public places. Delinquent activity of Juvenile delinquent groups varies from one country to another and the French respondents show a greater participation in deviant youth groups than the Italians. Results show some differences in gender participation with a greater involvement of boys, although girls also take part in deviant or delinquent activities, both in Italy and France. At risk behaviour significantly characterises the young participants as well as victimisation. This last point highlights that although deviant or potentially dangerous, these young people are also more vulnerable and in need of protection.     

Normal responses to sexually anatomically detailed dolls

The behaviors and verbalizations of normal, preschool age boys and girls during interactions with sexually anatomically detailed (SAD) dolls were examined. A structured, nonsuggestive interview with each child was videotaped, and five behaviors and five verbalizations were coded for each of five phases of the interview. A two-way ANOVA (gender × phase) showed that during those phases when the dolls were undressed, both boys and girls showed more sexual exploratory play, aggressive behavior which was nonsexual, and active avoidance. Across all phases, nonsexual aggression accounted for 31% of the boys' and 22% of the girls' total responses. Behavioral and verbal sexual exploratory play represented 42% of the boys' responses and 50% of the girls' responses. In contrast, sexually aggressive behavior accounted for only 1% and 2% of the boys' and girls' responses, respectively. Girls interacted with the dolls more than did boys. Additionally, girls demonstrated more affection to the dolls than did the boys, and boys displayed more anxiety with the dolls than did girls. Investigators should be cautious as to inferences about preschoolers' interactions with SAD dolls, especially interactions of a sexual or aggressive nature which do not clearly depict fondling or intercourse.     

Violent backgrounds of economically disadvantaged youth: Risk factors for perpetrating violence?

Adolescent Job Corps residents (n=474) reported the violence they had experienced, witnessed, and perpetrated with regards to parents, siblings, friends, and strangers. Results indicated that there was a high prevalence of all types of violence in this atrisk adolescent sample. Moreover, the majority of adolescents who reported violent experiences indicated threat or use of a weapon was involved. Gender differences were obtained such that boys reported perpetrating more aggression against friends and strangers than girls. Girls reported witnessing more parental aggression than boys. No gender differences in parental victimization rates were obtained. Contrary to prediction, parental victimization did not significantly predict perpetration towards siblings, friends, or strangers for either gender. However, parental victimization did predict increased violence towards parents. Surprisingly, for females especially, witnessing parental violence reduced the likelihood of violence towards parents. These findings support the need to include conflict resolution skills as a component of Job Corps training.     

Stirred,Shaken, or Blended

Abstract

Research documents the variation in levels of offending and the official response to boys' and girls' misbehavior (see Chesney-Lind & Sheldon 2004 for a nice summary of this work). Our research questions develop from this literature. We first expect differences in girls and boys at intake to a residential program for low-to-medium risk offenders, and then we also expect differences in official responses to girls and boys during their aftercare experience. Our findings confirm the literature—girls and boys differ in seriousness of committing offenses. Additionally, girls and boys are treated differently during their time in juvenile justice programming. For example, girls are monitored more closely than boys and receive less serious penalties for similar levels of rule violations. We find no difference between boys and girls in their odds of receiving a serious sanction. While traditional theoretical attempts to explain girls' misbehavior are often described with the expression “add women and stir,” our findings suggest that both behavior of and official response to boys' and girls' activities show that girls are not simply stirred into the male mix but are responded to differently than boys and in ways that illustrate conventional gender socialization.     

Who's Most at Risk for School Removal and Later Juvenile Delinquency?

Abstract

Research on school removal, either through suspension or expulsion, typically focuses on boys who have higher rates of removal than do girls. The present study compares girls to boys on proximal and distal characteristics and outcomes related to this event. Results supported known individual risk factors for school removal such as gender, race, SES, repeating a grade, and early aggressive behaviors which varied across gender by a contextual variable, that of school/community poverty. Regarding more distal risks, school removal differentially impacted later juvenile delinquency as well as early pregnancy and parenting depending on gender and the contextual factor of school/community poverty.     

Harsh Discipline and Child Problem Behaviors: The Roles of Positive Parenting and Gender

This study examined harsh verbal and physical discipline and child problem behaviors in a community sample of 2,582 parents and their fifth and sixth grade children. Participants were recruited from pediatric practices, and both parents and children completed questionnaire packets. The findings indicated that boys received more harsh verbal and physical discipline than girls, with fathers utilizing more harsh physical discipline with boys than did mothers. Both types of harsh discipline were associated with child behavior problems uniquely after positive parenting was taken into account. Child gender did not moderate the findings, but one dimension of positive parenting (i.e., parental warmth) served to buffer children from the detrimental influences of harsh physical discipline. The implications of the findings for intervention programs are discussed. This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.     

GENDER,FRIENDSHIP NETWORKS,AND DELINQUENCY: A DYNAMIC NETWORK APPROACH

Researchers have examined selection and influence processes in shaping delinquency similarity among friends, but little is known about the role of gender in moderating these relationships. Our objective is to examine differences between adolescent boys and girls regarding delinquency‐based selection and influence processes. Using longitudinal network data from adolescents attending two large schools in AddHealth (N = 1,857) and stochastic actor‐oriented models, we evaluate whether girls are influenced to a greater degree by friends’ violence or delinquency than boys (influence hypothesis) and whether girls are more likely to select friends based on violent or delinquent behavior than boys (selection hypothesis). The results indicate that girls are more likely than boys to be influenced by their friends’ involvement in violence. Although a similar pattern emerges for nonviolent delinquency, the gender differences are not significant. Some evidence shows that boys are influenced toward increasing their violence or delinquency when exposed to more delinquent or violent friends but are immune to reducing their violence or delinquency when associating with less violent or delinquent friends. In terms of selection dynamics, although both boys and girls have a tendency to select friends based on friends’ behavior, girls have a stronger tendency to do so, suggesting that among girls, friends’ involvement in violence or delinquency is an especially decisive factor for determining friendship ties.     

Developmental trends of delinquent attitudes and behaviors: replications and synthesis across domains, time, and samples

Inconsistent findings of attitude-behavior relations are commonly attributed to uncontrolled domain, time, or situational factors. Without integrative work, studies accounting for these factors may further complicate research by introducing potentially numerous third variables and render a coherent understanding of the attitude-behavior relationship even more difficult to achieve. In this paper, a developmental perspective is taken and the attitude-behavior relationship in delinquency is examined using three modes of investigation: multivariate patterns of attitude-behavior associations, their mutual predictability, and their developmental trajectories. Three grade cohorts of public school boys (n=1517 of the first, seventh, and tenth grades, initially) were followed over a period of 4 years, with an average age span of 7–16 years. Correspondence analyses suggested that adolescent boys with a tolerant attitude toward theft or violence were more deviant than those who had actual behavior of theft or violence. Stronger attitude effect on subsequent behavior, relative to behavior effect on subsequent attitudes, was found among boys aged 10–12 years. While mean scores of tolerant attitudes to serious theft and violence increased linearly with their behavior counterparts between 6 and 17 years of age, ages 11 and 14 were two turning points at which most delinquent attitudes and behaviors escalated at a higher speed. In general, delinquent attitudes and behaviors were related to each other in various patterns, and age was a defining factor that provided much of the explanation for the inconsistencies in research findings.     

Alcohol and drug consumption among sexual offenders

Purpose

To evaluate the role of alcohol and drug consumption between sexual offenders against boys and girls.

Method

It was an observational, retrospective and cross-sectional study carried out by the Ambulatory for the treatment of sexual disorders of ABC Medical College, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil (ABSex). The sample comprised 104 convicts, over 18 years old, sentenced only for sexual crimes against children (below 11 years old). Alcohol and drug consumption, sexual abuse history, sexual impulsivity, and risk of recidivism were evaluated.

Results

The sexual offenders against boys showed higher alcohol consumption problems than sexual offenders against girls (χ² = 19.76, 1 d.f., p < 0.01). The severity of alcohol consumption was also significantly higher in the sexual offenders against non-related boys than in the sexual offenders against non-related girls (p = 0.037, ANOVA). After adjustment for other variables, such as monthly income before the penalty and alcohol consumption at the moment of the crime, the alcohol consumption severity in sexual offenders against boys was significantly higher than in sexual offenders against girls (OR = 1.05, CI 1.01–1.08, p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Alcohol use or abuse is associated with the perpetration of sexual aggression. The role of alcohol consumption seems to be greater in sexual offenders against boys than in girls and this can contribute to criminal recidivism.