Abstract

MORGADO, Alice Murteira  and  VALE-DIAS, Maria da Luz. Adolescence and delinquency: significant variables for building an explanatory model. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.277-291. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/14psd150122.

Within Developmental Psychology there is a wide consensus on the complexity of antisocial behaviours, particularly during adolescence, a stage when multiple and important changes take place. Hence, we created a research project aimed at answering some questions about the antisocial phenomenon that still lack enlightening, especially regarding potential explaining variables such as social skills, self-concept, personality, family environment and socioeconomic status. We used a protocol including a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Portuguese versions of YSR (Fonseca & Monteiro, 1999); SSQ-Student Form (Mota, Matos, & Lemos, 2011); FES (Matos & Fontaine, 1992); PHCSCS-2 (Veiga, 2006), EPQ-J (Fonseca, 1989), e SPM-56 (Raven, Court & Raven, 1998). This was applied in five Educational Centres, to a sample of 121 boys between 14 and 20 years old (M=16.54). Results revealed some peculiarities in the sample, namely a strong prevalence of low socioeconomic status and of both overt and covert behavioural manifestations, with a higher frequency of theft and aggression. The predictive role of some personality, self-concept, family environment and self-control variables for the “Antisocial” and “Attention Problems/Hyperactivity” YSR scales was also evident. This research project makes evident that there are peculiarities in young delinquents as a specific group, that is, in what concerns their perceptions and individual, social, behavioural and familial characteristics. Therefore, we believe that considering our results for the design of new prevention and intervention programs may contribute for their efficacy.

Keywords : development; delinquency; antisocial; behaviour; adolescence.

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