A comparison of health behaviours in male adolescents with and without offending histories referred for adolescent health services in Turkey

Abstract

Background: Offending and incarceration are important societal problems that might be reduced by improving early intervention. Most prior work identifying risk factors has focussed on early oppositional or aggressive behaviours and environmental problems. Among adults, it is well recognised that offenders have much poorer health than the wider population. This raises questions about whether behaviours that put health at risk while a teenager may also be good markers of subsequent offending.Aims: To examine the relationship between risky health behaviours and delinquency by comparing male teenage offenders with a history of incarceration and male teenagers with no criminal involvement. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 66 male 12-18-yearold offenders with an incarceration history who were referred for evaluation to the Forensic Medicine Polyclinic in 2021 were compared with 74 similar aged adolescents without a criminal record but attending another clinic in the same hospital, using the Risky Health Behaviour Scale (RHBS).This covers dietary, road safety and sexual behaviours as well as exercise, substance use and violent behaviours.Negative items were reverse scored so that higher scores indicated more pro-health activities.Results: Total RHBS scores were significantly lower among the offender-group than the comparison teenagers (Means 93.19 ± 17.