Modeling the Reciprocal Relationships Between Group-Based Developmental Trajectories of Peer Delinquency and Self-Reported Delinquency During Adolescence: An Application of Interactional Theory

Abstract

This study examines whether one’s own delinquency and peer delinquency are reciprocally related and how prior delinquency and bonding variables influence peer delinquency trajectories. Using data from a 6-year follow-up study of 2,351 Korean adolescents, the study incorporates a group-based model to identify subgroups, each having a unique pattern of peer delinquency trajectories. The models yielded three subgroups: the early-onset and declining, the late-onset, and the nonoffending groups. The results reveal that compared with the nonoffending group, prior delinquency was significant for both the early-onset and decreasing and late-onset groups. Membership in the early-onset and decreasing group was associated with a greater likelihood of prior delinquency compared with the late-onset group. Commitment to school rule differentiated the early-onset and decreasing group from the nonoffending group, and partially mediated the effect of prior delinquency. The late-onset group members reported the highest probability of later delinquent behavior among the three groups.

Developmental Trajectories of Delinquent Peer Association Among Korean Adolescents: A Latent Class Growth Analysis Approach to Assessing Peer Selection and Socialization Effects on Online and Offline Crimes

“…Three classes emerged: An early-onset group (0.9%), demonstrating initially high levels at Grade 8 and thereafter a decreasing pattern of delinquent peer association; a late-peak group (3.37%), demonstrating an increasing and late-peak pattern by 12th grade; and a normative group (95.73%), demonstrating the association with nondelinquent peers throughout the 5-year interval. This finding is consistent with Cho’s study (2021) and Cho and Lee (2020). The first group, called the early-onset-decreasing group, included adolescents who only exhibited early association with delinquent peers (i.e., at grade 8) but not thereafter.…”

The Impact of Life Domains on Developmental Trajectories of Peer Delinquency among Korean Adolescents: A Partial Test of Agnew’s General Theory of Crime and Delinquency with a Group-Based Trajectory Modeling Approach

“…This is congruent with Agnew’s contention that the self-domain would demonstrate the greatest effect on antisocial behavior. In Western counties, low self-control is a silent predictor of peer delinquency among the early-onset and declining group members (Cho, 2021) and bullying perpetration among both the moderate late peaker and high late peaker subgroups members (Cho & Lee, 2018). It suggests the importance of specific types of offending behavior that may vary across Korean adolescents.…”

Early Onset Delinquency and Violent Delinquency in Adolescence: The Role of Abusive Parents and Delinquent Peer Associations

“…Analyses focused on identifying whether early onset delinquency was predictive of trajectories of peer delinquency over time in the sample. Cho (2021, p. 243) identified three trajectories of peer delinquency: “an early-onset and decreasing group (1.1%), that corresponded with developmental theories of early-onset antisocial behavior; one increasing pattern, called a late-onset group (3.5%), that corresponded with the theories of late-peak antisocial behavior; and one non-/low-trajectory pattern, called a nonoffending group (95.4%) that consistently associated with nondelinquent peers throughout adolescence.” Compared to the non-/low-trajectory group, those in the early-/late onset trajectory groups were significantly more likely to have engaged in early onset delinquency.…”

“…In contrast, young people who associate with peers who engage in delinquency may be more likely to engage in delinquency themselves because such behavior can be reinforced or modeled. Early onset delinquency and associations with delinquent peers at the same time can lead to a recursive cycle that can amplify the continuation of delinquency from childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood (Cho, 2021). This is because the reciprocal relationship between associations with delinquent peers and early onset delinquency can create a situation in which these variables reinforce one another through childhood and adolescence and can result in “negative consequences such as the weakening of social bonds and strengthening incentives to criminal offending (see Thornberry, 1987)” (Cho, 2021, p. 236).…”

“…With this recursive model in mind, early onset delinquency may make way for associations with peers who engage in delinquency and exacerbate the likelihood of delinquent outcomes over the life-course. Recently, Cho (2021) used data from a sample of Korean adolescents to assess the reciprocal relationships between delinquency and peer antisocial behavior. Analyses focused on identifying whether early onset delinquency was predictive of trajectories of peer delinquency over time in the sample.…”