Spb Social Risk Factors
March 2009
Social risk factors for involvement in crime
This brief provides an introductory discussion of five areas of social risk factors for involvement in crime: family, education, economics, community and peers, and alcohol and other drugs.
Family
Family environment and parental behaviour are important risk or protective factors for involvement in crime because of their influence on a child’s development Parental behaviours play a strong role in shaping a child’s risk of later involvement in criminality.
Parental criminality appears to be strongly correlated with an increased risk of a child of developing conduct problems and later criminal involvement. The influence of parental criminality is complex because of the multiple mechanisms (shared environmental factors, genetic and other biological risk factors, negative modelling by parents) involved that potentially pass on a parent’s risk of criminal involvement to their child.
Poor parenting practices, such as poor parental supervision and parents’ rejection of a child, are modest predictors of subsequent delinquency by the child. Children who experience severe or harsh parental practices have increased rates of conduct problems, substance abuse, depression and anxiety and violent crime in early adulthood, compared to those whose parents did not use physical punishment.
Family violence and maltreatment of children have significant inter-generational effects on an individual’s likelihood of becoming involved in crime. Some research suggests that maltreatment during childhood doubles an individual’s probability of engaging in many types of crime.
The effect of family influences appear to be greatest during the early years of a child’s life and reduces as they get older, although poor parental supervision and low levels of warmth between parents and their teenage children have also been identified as a contributing risk factors for future offending.
Attachment 3
Social risk factors for involvement in crime
Social risk factors for involvement in crime
This brief provides an introductory discussion of five areas of social risk factors for involvement in crime: family, education, economics, community and peers, and alcohol and other drugs.
Family
Family environment and parental behaviour are important risk or protective factors for involvement in crime because of their influence on a child’s development Parental behaviours play a strong role in shaping a child’s risk of later involvement in criminality.
Parental criminality appears to be strongly correlated with an increased risk of a child of developing conduct problems and later criminal involvement. The influence of parental criminality is complex because of the multiple mechanisms (shared environmental factors, genetic and other biological risk factors, negative modelling by parents) involved that potentially pass on a parent’s risk of criminal involvement to their child.
Poor parenting practices, such as poor parental supervision and parents’ rejection of a child, are modest predictors of subsequent delinquency by the child. Children who experience severe or harsh parental practices have increased rates of conduct problems, substance abuse, depression and anxiety and violent crime in early adulthood, compared to those whose parents did not use physical punishment.
Family violence and maltreatment of children have significant inter-generational effects on an individual’s likelihood of becoming involved in crime. Some research suggests that maltreatment during childhood doubles an individual’s probability of engaging in many types of crime.
The effect of family influences appear to be greatest during the early years of a child’s life and reduces as they get older, although poor parental supervision and low levels of warmth between parents and their teenage children have also been identified as a contributing risk factors for future offending.
Attachment 3
Social risk factors for involvement in crime