Formation mechanism and prediction model of juvenile delinquency

Front Psychol. 2023 May 2:14:1087368. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1087368. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Exploring the formation mechanism of juvenile delinquency is of great significance to prevent juvenile delinquency. The present study examined relations and interactions among juvenile delinquents' self-consciousness, family factors, social relationships, belief in a just world, and legal consciousness, and then developed a predictive model to distinguish between juvenile delinquents and non-delinquents. The results showed that family factors have a significant influence on the formation of juvenile delinquents' self-consciousness and there are notable differences in family environment and self-consciousness between delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents. Due to the complex interactions among juvenile delinquency's self-consciousness, family factors, social relationships, belief in a just world and legal consciousness, adolescents' self- consciousness and social relationships can be utilized to predict and classify the groups of delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents effectively. Therefore, the key to preventing juvenile delinquency is to improve their self-consciousness and develop their prosocial relationships.

Keywords: family factors; formation mechanism; juvenile delinquency; prediction model; self-consciousness; social relationships.

Grants and funding

This work was sponsored in part by the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of China awarded to SX under (Grant No. 21XXJC04ZD) and Wenzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau (Grant No. R20210002).