Impact of Child Maltreatment on First-Time Delinquency Among Korean Youth in Early and Mid-Adolescence

Backgrounds

The adverse effects of child maltreatment on delinquency are well established. Delinquency rates are 47% higher for abused and neglected youth than youth from the general population. In addition, maltreated youth who engage in delinquency at younger ages are at an increased risk of recidivism. Cultural groups vary, however, in how they understand and respond to maltreatment. These cultural variations may impact youth’s risk for delinquency. Yet relatively little research has examined risk factors for delinquency across cultural groups, including any risk due to maltreatment. This study examines the extent to which child maltreatment impacts delinquency among Korean youth, and any unique risk factors for delinquency among youth in early and mid-adolescence. 

Methods

This study used a nationally representative longitudinal data set of South Korean youth from the Korean Child Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS). This study followed 2,275 students in early adolescence (ages 11-15 years) and 2,272 students in the mid-adolescence (ages 14-18 years) to examine risks for first-time delinquency over 4 years. To create a complete and balanced data set, an imputation model was constructed. Discrete time survival analysis with a linear model for the hazard function was employed to model time to youth’s first involvement in delinquency, and to examine the effect of child maltreatment and other factors suggested by the literature on delinquency over a 4-year period. The main analyses were repeated on ten imputed datasets and the results showed the pooled estimates of these datasets.

Results

Approximately 19% of youth in early adolescence and 11% of youth in mid-adolescence were involved in delinquency for the first time over a 4-year period. Discrete time survival analysis showed that child maltreatment made a unique contribution to the risk of delinquency only for youth in the early adolescence cohort included mother’s education more than high school graduation (HR: 1.49), a higher level of youth’s depression (HR: 1.36), and youth’s negative attitudes toward school rules (HR: 0.68). Additional risk factors for delinquency in the mid-adolescence cohort included father’s education less than high school graduation (HR: 0.63), higher socioeconomic status (HR: 1.93) and a lower level of self-control (HR: 0.63). In both cohorts, boys were more likely than girls to engage in delinquency (HR: 1.39 for youth in the early adolescence cohort and HR: 1.17 for youth in the mid-adolescence cohort). A higher level of aggression also increased the risk of delinquency in both cohorts (HR: 1.45 for youth in the early adolescence cohort and HR: 1.82 for youth in the mid-adolescence cohort).

Conclusions and implications

Many risk factors (e.g., gender, aggression, and depression) found to be associated with risk of delinquency in this study are consistent with those in previous research. There were, however, some findings that appear to be relatively unique to this South Korean cohort: (e.g., mother’s education more than high school graduation and higher socioeconomic status). This study informs the design of culturally tailored preventive interventions for youth from different cultural backgrounds to promote positive development outcomes.