Mental health problems and recidivism among detained male adolescents from various ethnic origins

Abstract

This study examines differences in self-reported mental health problems between detained youths from Dutch, Moroccan, and Surinamese origin and the usefulness of mental health problems to predict violent and property recidivism in these juveniles. A sample of 296 detained boys aged between 12 and 18 years were assessed by means of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Official information regarding criminal history and recidivism was collected 3-6 years later. In general, Dutch youths and Surinamese youths reported more conduct problems than Moroccan youths, while Dutch youths also reported more hyperactivity than Surinamese youths. Mental health problems were not predictive of violent recidivism in any of the ethnic groups, while being related with property recidivism in Dutch and Surinamese youths. The current study showed that Moroccan youths present themselves on the SDQ as a less seriously disturbed group of youths than their Dutch and Surinamese counterparts. Our results also clearly showed that SDQ self-report scores are not predictive of future violent crimes in any of the three ethnic groups. Implications of the findings and limitations of the current study are discussed.

Interpersonal trauma and mental health problems of male and female antisocial adolescents treated in a forensic outpatient setting

“…They also experienced more often poly-victimization. These results are in line with both general population samples and incarcerated samples (Abram et al, 2004;Colins et al, 2013;Wood, Foy, Layne, Pynoos, & James, 2002). Also, internalizing symptoms such as depressive mood, self-harm and suicidal thoughts and internalizing disorders were significantly more prevalent in antisocial adolescent females than in adolescent males, as confirmed by the literature (e.g., Abram et al, 2004;Kerig et al, 2009).…”

“…Ethnic minorities showed less internalizing symptoms than Dutch antisocial adolescents. This might be due to underreporting of the mental health problems, or selection criteria in referring youth to the outpatient forensic clinic (e.g., Colins et al, 2013). The results at least warrant further study of the backgrounds and pathways to outpatient treatment of different ethnic groups.…”

The association between childhood maltreatment, mental health problems, and aggression in justice‐involved boys

“…Third, nonindigenous boys were overrepresented in the juvenile justice system and consequently, the majority of the participants had a non‐Dutch ethnic background. Nonindigenous youths have been found to have a tendency to underreport mental health problems for various reasons (Colins et al, ; Zwirs et al, ) that are out of the scope of the present study. However, a study on the Dutch version of the MAYSI‐2 revealed that Moroccan juveniles indeed reported fewer mental health problems, but this could not be explained by differences in measurement reliability, as the MAYSI‐2 was found to be a reliable instrument across ethnic groups (Colins et al, ).…”

Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Juveniles Who Sexually Offended

“…Besides common indicators of juvenile delinquent and risk behaviors, such as low socio-economic status (SES) and age (e.g., DeLisi, Neppl, Lohman, Vaughn, & Shook, 2013;Kipping, Smith, Heron, Hickman, & Campbell, 2015), we added foreign nationality as a covariate because Switzerland has been shown to have high rates of migration, and previous research indicated that juveniles with foreign nationalities were overrepresented in the Swiss justice system (Killias, 2009). Moreover, further European studies showed that JSOs with foreign nationalities differed from domestic adolescent delinquents in regard to social and health adversities (e.g., Aebi et al, 2012;Bauer et al, 2011;Colins et al, 2013).…”