Adolescents´ Perceptions, Neighbourhood Characteristics and Parental Monitoring -Are they Related, and Do they Interact in the Explanation of Adolescent Offending?

Children are nested in families, and families are nested within communities (e.g. neighbourhoods). This implies that the behaviour of both children and their parents is influenced by external and contextual factors. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between parental monitoring and neighbourhood disorder and collective efficacy from the perspective of the adolescent and to investigate how perceived monitoring and neighbourhood characteristics were related to and interact in predicting adolescent offending. The characteristics of the adolescent’s neighbourhoods were assessed using two different data sources: adolescents’ own perceptions and an independent, aggregated measure from a community survey. The analyses showed that the adolescents’ perceptions of neighbourhood level of disorder and collective efficacy were associated with both adolescent-perceived parental monitoring and adolescent offending, while the corresponding measures from the community survey were not. As regards the prediction of offending, adolescent-perceived parental monitoring is the most important predictor. Neither collective efficacy nor disorder appear to interact with parental monitoring in explaining adolescent offending. Future research would contribute to the field by examining the effect and interaction between the study variables in a sample with younger adolescents as well as by including parents’ perceptions. As to practical implications, our results indicate that families living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods may benefit from targeted support aimed at handling negative neighbourhood influences.

Nearby Neighbourhood Influences on Adolescent Offending

This study extends recent research on the spatial dynamics of neighbourhood disadvantage and youth offending. Data include self-reported offences from 794 Dutch adolescents and the socio-economic status in their residential neighbourhood and the surrounding community. The findings reveal that youth engage in the highest levels of offending when they reside in disadvantaged neighbourhoods surrounded by neighbourhoods characterized by relative affluence. This spatial pattern is attributable to greater temptations to offend, reduced parental monitoring, and more frequent involvement in unstructured activities among youths who live in close proximity to neighbourhoods more affluent than their own. This study highlights the importance of criminogenic opportunities and parental monitoring for understanding the spatial dynamics of neighbourhood disadvantage on offending.

Are Impulsive Adolescents Differentially Vulnerable to Normative or Situational Peer Influences? A Partial Replication Study

Ample research in criminology investigates the role of deviant peers in the development of adolescent offending. Different theoretical explanations account for distinct peer influences. The socialization perspective argues that deviant peers influence behavior through the provision of norms and values, whereas the situational perspective argues that deviant peers provide situational opportunities for deviant behavior. This study partially retests the propositions put forward by Thomas and McGloin’s study of dual systems, differential peer effects, and adolescent offending. We address the question to what extent trait impulsivity affects social and situational peer processes controlling for parental supervision, family bond, school bond, and deviant norms. Analysis of the cross-national International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3) data suggests that adolescents at the edges of trait impulsivity are differentially vulnerable to the effects of deviant peer processes. However, the findings need to be nuanced. We discuss the contribution of the current study to a better understanding of the interplay between individual characteristics and exposure to deviant peers.