When love hurts Assessing the intersectionality of ethnicity, socio-economic status, parental connectedness, child abuse, and gender attitudes in juvenile violent delinquency

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect Vol. 37; no. 11; pp. 1034 - 1049
• Main Authors: LAHLAH, Esmah, LENS, Kim M. E, BOGAERTS, Stefan, VAN DER KNAAP, Leontien M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier 01.11.2013; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse - ethnology; Child Abuse - psychology; Cultural Characteristics; Ethnicity; Female; Gender; Humans; Juvenile delinquency; Juvenile Delinquency - ethnology; Juvenile Delinquency - psychology; Love; Male; Medical sciences; Netherlands; Parent-Child Relations - ethnology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Social Class; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validation studies; Victimology; Violence - ethnology; Netherlands; Parental behavior; Socioeconomic status; Sex; Gender; Victimology; Parental connectedness; Parent child relation; Socio-economic status; Juvenile delinquency; Family environment; Sexual abuse; Intersectionality; Human; Violence; Gender attitudes; Ethnic group; Child abuse; Ethnicity; Sociodemographic factor; Social interaction; Correlation analysis; Adolescent; Early traumatism; Social behavior disorder; Juvenile violent delinquency
• ISSN: 0145-2134; 1873-7757
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.07.001

Researchers have not yet reached agreement about the validity of several competing explanations that seek to explain ethnic differences in juvenile violent offending. Ethnicity cannot solely explain why boys with an ethnic minority background commit more (violent) crimes. By assessing the intersectionality of structural, cultural and individual considerations, both the independent effects as well as the interplay between different factors can be examined. This study shows that aforementioned factors cumulatively play a role in severe violent offending, with parental connectedness and child abuse having the strongest associations. However, since most variables interact and ethnicity is associated with those specific factors, a conclusion to be drawn is that ethnicity may be relevant as an additional variable predicting severe violent offending although indirectly.