Adolescent Fathers Who Are Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders: Explanatory Study of the Co-Occurrence of Two Problem Behaviors

We identify explanatory risk variables associated with the co-occurrence of two problem behaviors: juvenile offending and adolescent fatherhood. Data were gathered from a 5-year prospective, longitudinal study of 531 incarcerated juvenile offenders as they transitioned from youth correction facilities back into the community. Of the total sample, 125 (28.3%) of the male participants reported fatherhood before their 20th birthday. Six risk variables were predictive of adolescent fatherhood in this sample: (a) gang member, (b) resided with non-biological parent as primary caretaker, (c) low SES, (d) child of parent with alcoholism, (e) low mother education, and (f) family member convicted of a felony. These variables were then placed in individual, family, and social domains. Cumulative probabilities identified family related variables as the primary domain contributing to the predictive multivariate model. These results provide support for the development of prevention and interventions strategies focused across multiple ecological contexts, focusing specifically on the family unit.     

Female Juvenile Offending: A Review of Characteristics and Contexts

We reviewed current literature on female juvenile offending including the scope and nature of offending by female adolescents and the risk and protective factors across ecological contexts. We suggested that female juvenile offending is best viewed within a multidimensional framework in which female adolescent developmental characteristics as well as the ecological contexts must be considered for effective preventions and interventions. An ecological framework may assist professionals to target adolescent female offenders who are most likely to be chronic offenders. We offered both an intervention and research frame for addressing the issue of offending among our female youth and concluded that, as the incidence of female juvenile offending increases, researchers and practitioners are well advised to consider both the contexts surrounding the potential female adolescent offender as well as the contexts that contribute to her resiliency against offending.     

Characterization and Prediction of Sexual and Nonsexual Recidivism Among Adjudicated Juvenile Sex Offenders

Estimating the risk of sexual recidivism for a juvenile sex offender is essential in order to protect public safety by identifying and evaluating high risk adolescents and to ensure the rights and welfare of juvenile offenders who will not likely reoffend. Empirically validated risk assessment methods are needed to aid in the classification and treatment of juvenile sex offenders. The present study utilized a dataset collected by Maricopa County, AZ, and aggregated by the National Juvenile Court Data Archive. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and characterize risk factors for juveniles who have been charged with a sexual offense in order to determine the predictive utility of these factors for subsequent offending, as well as offense trajectory, and to evaluate risk factors for nonsexual offenders who have committed crimes of various severities. The results of the present study show the strongest individual predictors of sexual recidivism to be prior nonsexual offending, prior sexual offending, hands‐off offending, offending against a child, younger school grade/age at time of initial offense, Asian or Hispanic ethnicity, and not attending school. A preliminary screening measure was developed from the seven positive risk factors, and ROC analysis produced an AUC indicating moderate predictive utility in discriminating between juvenile sex offenders who would sexually reoffend and those who would not. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Juvenile Offending and Crime in Early Adulthood: A Large Sample Analysis

Using large sample archival data from the state of South Carolina’s juvenile justice agency and other state agencies, we examined the background, early experiential and delinquency-related variables predicting young adult (ages 17–30 years) offending among juvenile offenders. We also examined characteristics of juvenile offenders who committed only a single misdemeanor offense, compared to non-juvenile offenders. Finally, we examined the variables that accounted for group differences in persistence of juvenile offending. Early adverse experiences including family-related adversities, mental health problems, identification as having school-related disabilities and juvenile recidivism accounted for more than 20 % of the variance in adult offending. Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed several time-dependent covariates including gender, age at first offense and repeat versus one time offending. Contrary to the view that the one time, misdemeanor level juvenile offending represents only minor departure from normative adolescent behavior, we found that this group of offenders differed significantly from non-delinquents on every category of risk for adult offending and also were more likely than non-delinquents to commit felonies as adults. Finally, in comparing adolescence-limited offenders with life-course persistent offenders, we accounted for more than 50 % of the variance in criminal outcomes on the basis of measures of background, early adversity, psychological characteristics and age of first juvenile arrest or referral.     

Transforming Fatherhood: Reconstructing Fatherhood Through Faith-Based Father School in South Korea

Despite the fast growing literature on religion and fatherhood, the majority of research on the topic was conducted in western societies, and the linkage between culture, religion, and fatherhood was understudied. Using in-depth interviews with 20 Korean fathers who completed an evangelical Duranno Father School (DFS) program, this study examines the processes through which they reconstruct fatherhood and become involved fathers in contemporary South Korean society. Results show the DFS program is instrumental in the reconstruction of new fatherhood through the provision of a strong moral foundation. The transformational processes of fatherhood are initiated and sustained within men’s relationships and interactions with families and religious communities in South Korean cultural context. However, reconstructing a new form of fatherhood is a daunting task and the processes of change are marked with constant tensions between old practices and new ways of doing fatherhood. Men must consciously make efforts to sustain new fatherhood through various means and strategies until new fatherhood becomes familiar. This Korean case suggests the significance of looking into the distinctive roles of religion in the processes of reconstruction of fatherhood, particularly in “unsettled times” characterized by social transformation. Implications of the findings for future research are discussed.     

The relationship of offending style to psychological and social risk factors in a sample of adolescent males

Research has indicated that life‐course persistent offenders typically vary their offending style, following a criminal career progression from co‐ to solo‐offending. Few studies have investigated the offenders who contemporaneously mix their style of offending. A sample of 1,047 male adolescent offenders from the Pathways to Desistance study was investigated over a 7‐year period. Participants were identified as solo, co or contemporaneous mixed style (CMS) offenders for each wave of data and one‐way between groups analysis of variance was conducted to examine variations between the different offending styles in terms of offending frequencies, exposure to violence, peer antisocial behaviour and influence, resistance to peer influence, impulse control and psychopathy. CMS offenders were found to consistently report significantly higher rates of offending and present significantly higher negative risk factors and lower protective risk factors than solo‐ and co‐offenders for the duration of the study. A multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate predictors of offending style with CMS as the reference category. Higher levels of exposure to violence and peer antisocial behaviour and lower levels of impulse control predicted membership of the CMS group for the first part of the study when compared with co‐offenders; and higher levels of exposure to violence and peer antisocial behaviour continued to predict CMS offending when compared to solo‐offenders until the end of the study.     

The Impact of Delayed Fatherhood on the Father-Child Relationship

There is little empirical research on the impact of delayed fatherhood on the father-child relationship. From a large, nationally representative sample of adults in the United States, a subsample was drawn of 47 men who were both fathers of minor children and had fathered their first child after their 35th birthday. Ordinary least-squares regression analysis was used to test four hypotheses. Late-time fathers were found to (a) spend more time in leisure activities with their children, (b) have higher expectations for their children's behavior, and (c) be more nurturant toward their children, but they (d) showed no difference in controlling behavior toward their children when compared with on-time fathers. Empirical support is presented for the establishment of age 35 as the criterion for delayed fatherhood in future studies. Recommendations for future research are offered.     

Fearlessness in juvenile offenders is associated with offending rate

Poor fear conditioning is a correlate of violent offending in adults, but there is no evidence concerning juvenile offenders. Our aim was to compare emotional learning in juvenile offenders and controls and establish whether crime rate is related to seriousness of emotional learning problems. To this end, emotional learning was assessed in 42 juvenile offenders by measuring skin conductance responding (SCR) during fear conditioning. Compared to controls, juvenile offenders showed lower conditioned SCRs to visual stimuli associated with a subsequent aversive stimulus and the magnitude of the SCR during fear acquisition was inversely associated with the number of their recorded offences. These findings suggest that juvenile offenders have impairments in the neural systems that subserve emotional learning. The implication is that using punitive measures to control persistent offenders is unlikely to be effective in an identifiable group of juvenile offenders.     

Subtypes of adolescent offenders: affective traits and antisocial behavior patterns

Etiological models of life-course persistent offending often emphasize behavioral explanations. Suggestions that persistent offenders have psychopathy ignore the distinct non-behavioral features of the psychopathy disorder. Using a three-factor model of the PCL-YV and cluster analysis with 259 incarcerated adolescents, we identified four distinct juvenile subtypes on the basis of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral dimensions. Prospective and retrospective comparisons of antisocial behavior patterns found the cluster comprising all three psychopathy dimensions to be the most chronic and severe. Impulsive features alone were strongly associated with severe antisocial behaviors retrospectively, but not prospectively. Findings rebut the proposal that disruptive behavioral and impulsive symptoms can identify "fledgling psychopaths." Assessments that disregard callous-unemotional traits will likely result in high false positive rates among serious adolescent offenders. Implications for developmental models of chronic offending are discussed in light of the need for further follow-up into adulthood.     

Characteristics of juvenile sex offending against strangers: Findings from a non‐clinical study

Previous studies of the characteristics of juvenile sex offending have been restricted to clinical samples (with convicted offenders undergoing treatment or assessment), which have several inherent limitations. To overcome these limitations victim allegations made to the London Metropolitan Police, UK, in 2001, of sexual assault by juvenile stranger perpetrators were sampled. The study aimed to determine more accurately the alleged nature of sex offending by this type of juvenile offender (aged less than 18 years) and to determine what factors were associated with the most serious cases of this type of aggressive behaviour. The most common offence characteristics were identified, and relationships between suspect and offence/victim characteristics were statistically tested. Offence seriousness, as indicated by physical violence and the occurrence of penetration, was significantly associated with an assault by a team of offenders, a young victim, and older juvenile offenders. The potential for predicting offender characteristics from offence characteristics was examined. Estimated offender age was significantly predicted by the absence/presence of penetration. An older juvenile offender was predicted by a penetrative attack. Aggr. Behav. 30:243–253, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Childhood Predictors of Desistance and Level of Persistence in Offending in Early Onset Offenders

Childhood predictors of adolescent offending careers were studied in 310 boys from the longitudinal Pittsburgh Youth Study who started offending prior to age 12. Three main groups were distinguished: serious persisters (n = 95), moderately serious persisters (n = 117), desisters (n = 63), and an intermittent group (n = 35). Group membership was predicted using risk and promotive factors measured in childhood. Serious and moderately serious persisters could be distinguished well from desisters (29.2% and 32.3% explained variance). Distinction between the two persister groups proved somewhat more difficult (20.9% explained variance). More serious persisters than desisters showed disruptive behavior, while moderately serious persisters fell in between. Further, more moderately serious persisters were marked by social disadvantage. Family involvement, small family and positive peer relationships were promotive of desistance. Concluding, early onset offenders show considerable heterogeneity in their adolescent offending careers which seem to some extent to be predicted by different sets of risk and promotive factors.     

Fatherhood in the Canadian Context: Perceptions and Experiences of Sudanese Refugee Men

As they attempt to settle and adapt into Canadian society, new immigrants and/or refugees fathers face multiple stressors, some of which include underemployment or unemployment, social isolation, and changing roles within the family. Through a qualitative research involving in-depth interviews with 20 Sudanese refugee men recruited through a criterion sampling process based primarily on length of residency and age of children in Canada, this paper examines their perceptions and experiences as fathers in a large urban centre in Canada. Insights on the meaning of fatherhood, the values that guide their behaviour as fathers, their interactions with and aspirations for their children, and the challenges these men encounter as fathers in Canadian society are also provided.     

Adolescent unwed prospective fathers: readiness for fatherhood and behaviors toward the mother and the expected infant

Despite the increased emphasis on assessing and meeting the needs of unmarried pregnant adolescents, less than adequate attention has been directed toward understanding unwed adolescent prospective fathers who frequently are the mates of pregnant teenagers. As part of a prenatal education intervention study, 28 unmarried adolescent fathers responded to a questionnaire containing items about their readiness for fatherhood, antepartal behavioral interactions, and projected postpartal behaviors with their pregnant adolescent partners, as well as their projected behaviors with their infants. The adolescent males reported that initially they either were definitely unready for paternity (75%) or were undecided about readiness for fatherhood (21%). However, as pregnancy advanced beyond the second trimester, only 57% of the respondents did not want to become fathers. To a significant extent, those who did not were least likely to engage in behaviors supportive of their mate's health antepartally, or to indicate a desire to care for and interact with their expected infant. In addition, they tended to project lower levels of postnatal involvement with the adolescent mothers of their children as compared to those males who were more accepting of their pending fatherhood. Moreover, males who had maintained long prepregnancy relationships with their mates tended to be more supportive of them prenatally, and to perceive themselves as maintaining close relationships with both the mothers and infants after delivery. Finally, 86% of the adolescent fathers planned to work to contribute to the support of their infants. The data demonstrate that unreadiness for fatherhood may be associated with responsible as well as irresponsible behaviors. Accordingly, these data are interpreted as having implications for the establishment of programs and policies which focus on the adolescent male population in order to interdict the high rate of unwed adolescent pregnancy.     

Psychopathic Traits Mediate the Relationship Between Exposure to Violence and Violent Juvenile Offending

Exposure to violence (ETV) has emerged as a key and stable predictor of violent offending. However, not all youth offenders who experience ETV go on to chronic violent offending. Consequently, it is possible that individual differences, such as psychopathic traits, may be an important factor in the link between ETV and violent offending. These traits are associated with exposure to violence and, separately, to violent offending. The present study used data from Pathways to Desistance, a multisite, longitudinal study of serious juvenile offenders (N = 1170, Mean_age = 16.05, SD = 1.16) to explore these relationships, simultaneously. First, autoregressive cross-lagged path models were used to examine the longitudinal bivariate relations among violent offending, ETV, and psychopathic traits. Second, latent class growth analysis was used to determine trajectories ETV. And third, the mediating influence of psychopathic traits was examined. Results indicated that ETV predicted later engagement in violence, but there was some degree of reciprocity between ETV and violence over time. Additionally, respondents with stable high or increasing trajectories of ETV reported more instances of violent offending. Finally, psychopathic traits mediated the relationship between ETV and violent offending. Together these findings support the notion that individuals with psychopathic traits perceive and internalize their environment differently than others and that this difference guides their own violent offending. Given the importance of psychopathic traits for understanding the influence of ETV on violent offending, prevention and intervention strategies must be developed that take into account both individual differences and environmental factors.     

Factors associated with parenting among incarcerated juvenile offenders

In regard to the injured offender, research indicates that violent victimization represents only one facet of a constellation of associated risks and consequences, including promiscuity and adolescent parenthood. A relationship between firearm injuries and self-reported promiscuity among incarcerated juvenile offenders has previously been noted. The present study was an attempt to gain additional insight into the larger consequences of violent injuries. Information pertaining to the fathering of children was collected from 258 incarcerated male adolescents from the Richmond, Virginia, metropolitan area during a two-year period. It was hypothesized that adolescent parenting would be associated with firearm injuries. The results indicated that 20% of the juvenile offenders fathered at least one child. Analyses revealed a significant relationship between firearm injuries and increased prevalence of adolescent parenting. Continued involvement in illegal activities, as indicated by a second commitment to a juvenile correctional center, also was associated with increased prevalence of adolescent parenting, while race and involvement in drug selling or violent offending were not. The social and economic implications of these findings, particularly in terms of the health care and social service delivery systems, are discussed.     

A limited population of unmarried adolescent fathers: a preliminary report of their views on fatherhood and the relationship with the mothers of their children

Although much has been documented regarding adolescent childbearing (Juhasz, 1974; Furstenburg, 1976; Card & Wise, 1978; Russ-eft, 1979; Chilman, 1980; Earl & Siegel, 1980), little is known about the attitudes of unmarried adolescent fathers toward fatherhood and their relationship with the mothers of their children. Most of what is known about this relationship has been learned from the young mothers (Sauber, 1966; Bernstein, 1971; Pope, 1971; bemis, 1976; Lorenzi, 1977; Clapp & Raab, 1978). With the exception of a few investigators (Pannor et al., 1968; Pannor, 1971, Hendricks, 1981), virtually no accounts can be found in the literature documenting unmarried adolescent fathers' perceptions of fatherhood and their relationship with the mothers of their children. This paper attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by reporting on how two select populations of black unmarried adolescent fathers view fatherhood and their relationship with the mothers of their children.     

Relations between neighborhood factors, parenting behaviors, peer deviance, and delinquency among serious juvenile offenders

The present study examined relations among neighborhood structural and social characteristics, parenting practices, peer group affiliations, and delinquency among a group of serious adolescent offenders. The sample of 14-18-year-old boys (N=488) was composed primarily of economically disadvantaged, ethnic-minority youth living in urban communities. The results indicate that weak neighborhood social organization is indirectly related to delinquency through its associations with parenting behavior and peer deviance and that a focus on just 1 of these microsystems can lead to oversimplified models of risk for juvenile offending. The authors also find that community social ties may confer both pro- and antisocial influences to youth, and they advocate for a broad conceptualization of neighborhood social processes as these relate to developmental risk for youth living in disadvantaged communities.     

The Effect of Children's Sleeping Arrangements (Communal vs. Familial) on Fatherhood Among Men in an Israeli Kibbutz

Abstract

The author examined the effect of children's sleeping arrangements (communal vs. familial) on the extent of fathers' involvement in their children's lives and their level of satisfaction from fatherhood. Questionnaires assessing those aspects of fatherhood were administered to 40 fathers living in a kibbutz. Results indicated that the fathers of children sleeping at home were more involved with their children's lives and showed higher levels of satisfaction from fatherhood. Preference for a communal sleeping arrangement for children was expressed among 7 men, all of whom were older than 50 years. These results are discussed in the context of culturally changing concepts of paternal roles in the family and socioeconomic transition in the kibbutz.     

The role of fathers in child and adolescent psychopathology: make room for daddy.

This review summarizes research concerning the relation between paternal factors and child and adolescent psychopathology. When compared with mothers, fathers continue to be dramatically underrepresented in developmental research on psychopathology. However, findings from studies of children of clinically referred fathers and nonreferred samples of children and their fathers indicate that there is substantial association between paternal characteristics and child and adolescent psychopathology. Findings from studies of fathers of clinically referred children are stronger for fathers' effects on children's externalizing than internalizing problems. In most cases the degree of risk associated with paternal psychopathology is comparable to that associated with maternal psychopathology. Evidence indicates that the presence of paternal psychopathology is a sufficient but not necessary condition for child or adolescent psychopathology.