Relationship Between Peer Delinquency And Juvenile Problematic Behaviour: Self-Control As A Mediator

Abstract

According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics (2020), the reported juvenile criminal offences were 4,833 cases in 2019. This figure is still considered as high even though it had decreased compared with previous years. Therefore, this study aims to examine the association between peer delinquency, self-control and juvenile problematic behaviours, as well as to determine the mediating role of self-control.
Method: A total of 206 juveniles from six juvenile rehabilitation residential schools, commonly known as Sekolah Tunas Bakti in Malaysia (89.1 % male and 10.9% female), participated in this cross-sectional quantitative survey. A Malay version of the Self-Control Scale (Grasmick et al., 1993), The Peer Delinquency Scale (Loeber et al., 1998) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) were used to examine the relationships among social factors of peer delinquency, self-control and juvenile problematic behaviours.
Findings: The direct effect of current findings found that peer delinquency is positively associated with juvenile problematic behaviours. Also, a direct effect of current findings proved that self-control is negatively associated with juvenile problematic behaviours. The key findings revealed that self-control mediates the association between peer delinquency and juvenile problematic behaviours since the relationship between peer delinquency and juvenile problematic behaviours has been widely researched in past studies.
Conclusion: In terms of theoretical implications, this study has filled a knowledge gap on the connections between social factors of peer delinquency, self-control factors, and problematic behaviours among juveniles in Malaysia. The findings of this study can be taken into consideration by the Malaysian government and Sekolah Tunas Bakti to improve their policy and to design suitable prevention or intervention programmes that may reduce juvenile offences in the future.