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Can a Pessimistic Outlook Moderate the Victimization-Delinquency Relationship?
1Department of Criminal Justice, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, PA, USA walters@kutztown.edu.
Violence and Victims
|June 28, 2023
Summary
Victimization and pessimism toward the future significantly correlate with delinquency in high school seniors. Pessimism may worsen the link between being a victim and engaging in delinquent behavior.
Area of Science:
- Criminology
- Psychology
Background:
- The victim-offender overlap describes individuals who experience victimization and engage in offending.
- Understanding factors that influence this overlap is crucial for intervention and prevention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction between victimization and pessimism toward the future in relation to self-reported delinquency.
- To examine the victim-offender overlap within a high school senior population.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 1,300 high school seniors from the 2018 Monitoring the Future study.
- Employed multiple regression analysis with maximum likelihood estimation and bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals.
Main Results:
- Both victimization and the interaction between victimization and pessimism were significantly associated with delinquency.
- These associations remained significant after controlling for demographic, family, and peer factors.
Conclusions:
- Pessimism toward the future appears to intensify the established relationship between victimization and delinquency.
- Findings highlight the psychological dimension of the victim-offender overlap.
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