Are you too young or too delinquent? The question of psychosocial maturity among adolescents

This study aims investigate if psychosocial maturity differences in young men aged 14-30 are linked to age variable or to delinquent status. Developmental criminologists perceive psychosocial maturity as a main predictor of desistance and this capacity grows up to 25 years olds. Psychosocial maturity includes three interrelated components: “temperance” (self control and low levels of aggressiveness) “perspective” (taking into account one’s actions implications for the others and perceiving short and long-term consequences.), and “responsibility” (resistance to peer influence). Adolescents, and especially juvenile delinquent, present vulnerabilities to these characteristics but it’s unclear if some differences or similarities between profiles could be identified. In this view, we collected data among two convenience samples of Belgian youths: one “delinquent” (youth detention centers, prisons, probation services, etc.) and one “non delinquent” (secondary schools, social networks,…) (n=180). In each sample, in order to examine the age variable, three sub-groups are identified (14-17/18-25/26-30 years olds). We used measures of self-reported delinquency (to distinguish the two samples) and standardized measures related to the three components of psychosocial maturity. Futures univariate analyses (test t, anova, …) will be run to compare the subsamples and highlight intra-group differences, with age as the main factor, or inter-groups with delinquent status as the main factor. According to developmental theory, we will expect to observe significant differences depending on age, among all youths, with youngest ones presenting low levels of psychosocial maturity. We will discuss these implications for the field of criminology and the understanding of juvenile delinquency.