Conceptualizing Prosocial Identity for Justice-Involved Youth

Background and Purpose: Positive Youth Justice (PYJ) is gaining in popularity in the U.S. as a strengths-based alternative to a historically risk/problem-focused system. However, there are many questions about how to specify and apply the largely abstract PYJ model in juvenile justice interventions. This study begins to explore a promising construct in the PYJ framework that could be a target for intervention: prosocial identity.

Prosocial identity is the extent to which one views oneself as prosocial. Theories and initial evidence suggest that shifting identity toward a prosocial direction helps youth desist from crime. However, two alternative conceptualizations of prosocial identity exist in the literature: one is merely conventional identity oriented toward traditional goals and roles; one is other-oriented that focuses on helping and benefiting others. To inform appropriate intervention target, it is essential to understand which conceptualization is most relevant to desistance.

Using data from a large sample of youth on probation, this study aims to examine 1) whether the two conceptualizations of prosocial identity can be identified, using the Moral Ideal Self scale; 2) which conceptualization has more theoretically coherent relationships with other variables; and 3) how youths’ race, gender, age, and justice involvement relate to prosocial identity measures.

Methods: Data were collected from 1,879 court-referred youth (ages 7 to 20) who completed a baseline Protective Factors survey upon intake to community supervision in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin between 2021 and 2022. The survey consists of validated scales measuring youth's moral ideal self, moral internalization, life purpose, self-control, and other protective factors. We conducted a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, bivariate correlations, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests to address study aims.

Results: Preliminary results for Aim 1 indicate that a two-factor structure (conventional and other-oriented prosocial identity) fit the Moral Ideal Self Scale well. Both conventional and other-oriented scales had high internal consistency and reasonable factor structure.

For Aim 2, the two scales had moderate correlation (tau=.59). Both constructs showed a reasonable pattern of divergent and convergent correlations. Conventional identity appeared to be more relevant to desistance than other-oriented identity, as it had stronger association with self-control—a known predictor for delinquent behavior. We will further examine associations with criminogenic needs when risk assessment measures are available.

For Aim 3, youth in our sample had lower levels of prosocial identity than non-justice involved youth. White youth had higher level of moral internalization than Black and Latinx youth, girls had greater other-oriented prosocial identity than boys, and conventional identity increased with age from early to late adolescence.

Conclusions and Implications: To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the essential feature of prosocial identity in relevance to youth justice intervention. Our initial findings suggest that interventions should aim to help youth shift toward a merely more conventional (rather than actively prosocial) sense of self. In a follow-up study, we will examine which conceptualization of prosocial identity better protects youth from future reoffending, and whether race and/or socioeconomic status moderate the protective relationship (if any).