Bonding With Non-Parental Others During Juvenile Incarceration: Communication Skills, Bonding Capability, and...

Area of Science:

• Criminology
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Traditional research focuses on parent-child bonds and recidivism.
• Limited understanding of social bond development during incarceration.
• Need to identify factors enabling prosocial connections in confined youth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine social bonds between justice-involved youths and non-familial adults/peers during incarceration.
• To investigate factors enabling social bond cultivation in confined youth.
• To test the indirect effect of communication skills on recidivism through social bonds.

Main Methods:

• Utilized four waves of longitudinal data from incarcerated youth.
• Employed structural equation modeling and bootstrapping for analysis.
• Assessed communication skills, social bonds (mentors, teachers, staff, peers), and recidivism.

Main Results:

• Enhanced communication skills were directly associated with lower recidivism.
• Prosocial bonds formed during incarceration fully mediated the effect of communication skills on recidivism.
• Identified communication skills as a crucial factor in building social bonds.

Conclusions:

• Communication skills are vital for fostering prosocial bonds in justice-involved youth.
• Strengthening social bonds during incarceration can effectively reduce recidivism.
• Intervention programs should prioritize communication skill development for rehabilitation.