Neighborhood Ecological Characteristics and Adolescent Delinquency: The Mediating Role of Social Trust

Background/Purpose:

The neighborhood environment is important for understanding adolescent's delinquency. According to social disorganization theory, impoverished neighborhood characteristics can affect adolescent's delinquent behavior by mechanisms of lower collective efficacy and social control. Although many empirical studies have identified the relationship between neighborhood factors and offline delinquency, little is known about its potential relationship with online delinquency. To fill this gap, the current study examined how neighborhood factors representing various socioeconomic characteristics are linked with both online and offline delinquency among South Korean adolescents. In accord with social disorganization theory, we hypothesized that social trust may mediate this pathway. Also, to capture a more detailed view of neighborhood effects, the present study used neighborhood measures at the district-level instead of relatively large regional units such as the province or the city as done in most studies.

Methods:

Data and samples: This study merged individual-level (level 1) data from the Seoul Education Longitudinal Study (N=3,109) provided by the Seoul Education Research & Information Institute and neighborhood-level (level 2) data from the Korean Statistical Information E-local services.

Measures: Multi-level structural equation modeling (MLSEM) was used to analyze the relationship between variables on different levels. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between basic livelihood security recipient rate, migration rate, foreign resident rate, female-headed household rate and adolescent’s delinquent behavior. The mediating effect of social trust through 2-2-1 (IV=level 2, MV=level 2, DV=level 1) multilevel mediation model was also examined. Control variables (gender, average monthly household income, school grades, parent education level) were included in the model. Adolescent’s delinquent behavior included online (e.g., spreading bad rumors online, bullying via text messaging) and offline (e.g., physical violence, intimidation, bullying) delinquency.

Results:

The findings suggested that the higher basic livelihood security recipient rate (b =-.007, p <.001), migration rate (b=-.039, p<.001), foreign resident rate (b =-.002, p <.001), the lower the level of social trust, which in turn increases adolescent’s delinquent behavior (b =-.180, p <.01). On the other hand, the higher female-headed household rate (b =.059, p <.001), the higher the level of social trust. The direct effects of all independent variables on adolescent delinquency were not significant.

Conclusions and Implications:

The current study is meaningful in that it attempted to explore factors related to adolescent's delinquency through a macro perspective by considering the contextual characteristics of the social environment. Our results were in line with social disorganization theory; specifically security recipient rate, migration rate, and foreign resident rate lowered informal social control, which subsequently increased adolescent's delinquency. A noticeable point is that the association between neighborhood factors and adolescent's delinquency was fully mediated by social trust. This shows that our result is aligned with social disorganization theory which emphasized the mediating role of informal social control when linking neighborhood characteristics and the occurrence of crime. Lastly, our findings emphasizes the need for considering social structural factors and informal social control on a policy level for a preventive approach against adolescent's delinquency.