Premium
Exposure to family violence: A partial explanation for initial and subsequent levels of delinquency?
Author(s) -
KRUTTSCHNITT CANDACE,
DORNFELD MAUDE
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1993.3.2.61
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , psychology , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , poison control , suicide prevention , developmental psychology , criminal behavior , domestic violence , occupational safety and health , criminology , medical emergency , medicine , pathology
Two of the most significant bodies of research in criminology, career criminal research and family violence research, remain largely unconnected despite the implications each has for the other. The age at which offending begins has been linked to the frequency, severity and duration of subsequent offending. In turn, exposure to family violence has been connected with a variety of early behaviour problems as well as subsequent delinquency and adult offending. Using data obtained from 80 preadolescent youths, we explore whether the age at onset mediates the effect of exposure to family violence on the frequency and the severity of self‐reported offending. We find that youths exposed to more family violence initiate delinquent activities at an earlier age, and engage in more frequent and serious offending than those with less violent backgrounds. However, in considering the ways in which onset mediates the relationships between degree of family violence and delinquency, we find some notable variations in the processes responsible for frequent and serious offending.