Low Self-control and Legal Cynicism among At-Risk Youth: An Investigation into Direct and Vicarious Police Contact

Objectives: This study explores the nexus between low self-control and legal cynicism among a recent sample of at-risk youth while accounting for various features of direct and vicarious police stops. Methods: Analyses are based on data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which employs a national sample of urban-born, at-risk youth. Results: A uniquely potent association between low self-control and legal cynicism emerged across samples with and without exposure to vicarious or direct police stops. Furthermore, among youth exposed to police stops, the link between low self-control and legal cynicism was largely robust to perceptions/features of these stops, including the degree of officer intrusiveness, arrest, perceptions of procedural justice, and youth feelings of social stigma following the stop. Conclusions: Programmatic efforts that both enhance the early development of self-control through mindfulness and curriculum-based interventions (e.g., Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) and facilitate trauma-informed policing may be beneficial in curtailing the development of legal cynicism.

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Gender Differences in the Accumulation, Timing, and Duration of Childhood Adverse Experiences and Youth Delinquency in Fragile Families

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency ◽

10.1177/00224278211003227 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002242782110032

Author(s):

Hayley Pierce ◽

Melissa S. Jones

Keyword(s):

Delinquent Behavior ◽

National Sample ◽

Intervention Strategies ◽

Fragile Families ◽

At Risk Youth ◽

Specific Intervention ◽

Youth Delinquency ◽

Adverse Experiences ◽

And Gender ◽

Gender Specific

Objective: The purposes of this study are twofold. First, we explore how the accumulation, timing, and duration of ACEs influences youth delinquency. Second, because few studies to date have examined how the effect of ACEs may vary among different groups, we explore how these patterns may vary by gender. Methods: Analyses were based on data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW), which employs a national sample of urban-born, at-risk youth. Results: The results showed that as the number of early ACEs experienced incrementally increases, the likelihood of youth reporting delinquent behavior also increases, even after adjusting for recent adversity. Moreover, exposure to early ACEs that are high but late, intermittent, or chronically high significantly increase the risk of youth participating in delinquency. Our results also indicate that ACEs are significantly related to delinquency for girls, but not for boys. Conclusions: Prevention and intervention efforts should screen for ACEs—especially in early childhood. Given that the accumulation, timing, and duration of ACE exposure is linked to youth delinquency, interventions that target ACEs early may have greater success at reducing delinquency. Moreover, prevention programs need to consider gender-specific responses to ACEs and gender-specific intervention strategies.

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Child Labor and Sex Trafficking

Pediatrics in Review ◽

10.1542/pir.2020-001396 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 42 (12) ◽

pp. 639-654

Author(s):

Jordan Greenbaum

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Human Trafficking ◽

Child Labor ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Sex Trafficking ◽

General Information ◽

At Risk Youth ◽

Extensive Discussion ◽

Labor Trafficking ◽

Trauma Informed

Regardless of their practice setting or subspecialty, pediatricians are likely to encounter children who have experienced sex or labor trafficking or who are at risk for exploitation. Only 24.1% of health professionals in one study reported receiving previous training on human trafficking; after a brief presentation on the topic, 39.6% indicated that they knew or suspected they had cared for a trafficked person in the past 3 months. Trafficked and exploited children can present with myriad physical or mental health conditions; most have experienced repeated, significant trauma; and few are likely to spontaneously disclose their exploitative situation. As a result, clinicians face challenges in recognizing and appropriately responding to potential human trafficking. Knowledge of common risk factors and potential indicators of exploitation can assist the pediatrician in recognizing affected and at-risk youth. However, health professionals report that existing training tends to focus on general information about trafficking, with relatively little time spent discussing the specifics of the trauma-informed approach to patient interactions. Given the critical importance of building patient trust, empowering patients to share their concerns, and engaging them in their own care and safety planning, this article focuses on the practical aspects of working with trafficked and exploited children. A brief overview of human trafficking is followed by an extensive discussion of rights-based, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed strategies for interacting with vulnerable patients.

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Legal Cynicism, Legitimacy, and Criminal Offending

Criminal Justice and Behavior ◽

10.1177/0093854811424707 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (12) ◽

pp. 1265-1279 ◽

Cited By ~ 92

Author(s):

Michael D. Reisig ◽

Scott E. Wolfe ◽

Kristy Holtfreter

Keyword(s):

Internal Validity ◽

Self Control ◽

Criminal Offending ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Potential Threat ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Legal Socialization ◽

Legal Cynicism ◽

Compliance With The Law ◽

Low Self Control

Prior research suggests that legal orientations (or domains of legal socialization), such as legitimacy and legal cynicism, influence compliance with the law (or criminal offending). The aim of this study was to assess a potential threat to the internal validity of these findings. Specifically, the authors test whether one potential confounder, low self-control, attenuates the observed effects of legal orientations on self-reported criminal offending. Using cross-sectional survey data from 626 adult participants, the results of regression models show that criminal offending is significantly shaped by both legal cynicism and legitimacy, even after taking into account individual variations in self-control. In short, the findings demonstrate that legitimacy and legal cynicism exert direct independent effects on law-violating behavior and that these relationships are not confounded by low self-control.

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Brain activity, low self-control, and delinquency: An fMRI study of at-risk adolescents

Journal of Criminal Justice ◽

10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2017.07.007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 56 ◽

pp. 107-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ryan Charles Meldrum ◽

Elisa M. Trucco ◽

Lora M. Cope ◽

Robert A. Zucker ◽

Mary M. Heitzeg

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Self Control ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Low Self Control ◽

At Risk Adolescents

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Low Self-Control and Perceptions of Procedural Justice Among Urban-Born Youth: The Moderating Role of Officer Intrusiveness

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology ◽

10.1177/0306624x211049199 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0306624X2110491

Author(s):

Dylan B. Jackson ◽

Cashen M. Boccio ◽

Alexander Testa ◽

Michael G. Vaughn

Keyword(s):

Procedural Justice ◽

Police Officers ◽

Self Control ◽

Fragile Families ◽

Police Encounters ◽

Youth Perceptions ◽

Citizen Interactions ◽

Low Self Control ◽

Moderating Role

The current study examines whether the link between low self-control and perceptions of procedural justice among urban-born youth is contingent on acts of officer intrusiveness. Data come from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and are restricted to youth reporting lifetime police stops at Year 15 ( N = 918). Findings reveal that the association between low self-control and diminished perceptions of procedural justice is significantly moderated by officer intrusiveness. To be precise, low self-control became more relevant in diminished perceptions of procedural justice as officer intrusiveness decreased. The findings carry implications for police-citizen interactions, including the training of police officers in developmental science and how low self-control may shape youth perceptions of police encounters.

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Low Self-Control of Emotions as an Antecedent of Self-Reported Physical Symptoms: A Longitudinal Perspective

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027//1016-9040.6.1.26 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 26-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Marja Kokkonen ◽

Lea Pulkkinen ◽

Taru Kinnunen

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Physical Symptoms ◽

Self Control ◽

Personality Characteristics ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire ◽

Positive Direction ◽

Data Collections ◽

Low Self Control

The study was part of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, underway since 1968, in which children's low self-control of emotions was studied using teacher ratings at age 8 in terms of inattentiveness, shifting moods, aggression, and anxiety. The study was based on data from 112 women and 112 men who participated in the previous data collections at ages 8, 27, and 36. At age 27, the participants had been assessed in Neuroticism (N) using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire , and at age 36 they filled in several inventories measuring, among others, conscious and active attempts to repair negative emotions in a more positive direction as well as physical symptoms. The present study used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis that personality characteristics indicating low self-control of emotions at ages 8 and 27 are antecedents of self-reported physical symptoms at age 36; and that this relationship is indirect, mediated by attempts to repair negative emotions in a more positive direction. The findings showed, albeit for men only, that inattentiveness at age 8 was positively related to self-reported physical symptoms at age 36 via high N at age 27 and low attempts to repair negative emotions at age 36. Additionally, N at age 27 was directly linked to self-reported physical symptoms at age 36. The mediation of an active attempt to repair negative emotions was not found for women. Correlations revealed, however, that shifting moods and aggression in girls were antecedents of self-reported physical symptoms in adulthood, particularly, pain and fatigue.

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A Silenced Population

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000470 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (6) ◽

pp. 433-442 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kim Gryglewicz ◽

Melanie Bozzay ◽

Brittany Arthur-Jordon ◽

Gabriela D. Romero ◽

Melissa Witmeier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Depressive Symptomatology ◽

The United States ◽

Future Research ◽

At Risk Youth ◽

Peer Relationship ◽

Student Records ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Method Student

Abstract. Background: Given challenges that exceed the normal developmental requirements of adolescence, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) youth are believed to be at elevated risk for engaging in suicide-related behavior (SRB). Unfortunately, little is known about the mechanisms that put these youth potentially at risk. Aims: To determine whether peer relationship difficulties are related to increased risk of SRB in DHH youth. Method: Student records (n = 74) were retrieved from an accredited educational center for deaf and blind students in the United States. Results: Peer relationship difficulties were found to be significantly associated with engagement in SRB but not when accounting for depressive symptomatology. Limitations: The restricted sample limits generalizability. Conclusions regarding risk causation cannot be made due to the cross-sectional nature of the study. Conclusion: These results suggest the need for future research that examines the mechanisms of the relationship between peer relationship difficulties, depression, and suicide risk in DHH youth and potential preventive interventions to ameliorate the risks for these at-risk youth.

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