Risk and Protective Factors Among African American Adolescent Males That Predict Adult Involvement in the Criminal Justice System: Evidence From a National Sample

Abstract

The current study examined risk and protective factors in adolescence that predicted involvement in the criminal justice system among young adult African American men. Participants (n = 2,274) drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were adolescents (11–19 years, M = 15) at Wave 1 and young adults (18–27, M = 22) at Wave 3. We examined how racial differences in social environments (e.g., socioeconomic status, parental supervision, parental quality time, religiosity, peer substance use, and academic achievement) during adolescence predict involvement in the criminal justice system in young adulthood. Results revealed peer substance use as a risk factor, and religiosity and academic achievement as both protective factors against later involvement in the criminal justice system. Implication are discussed in regard to understanding the types of preventative services that may prove to decrease the number of African American young adult men involved in the criminal justice system.

KEYTERMS:

• African American
• males
• criminal justice involvement

Notes

1. This study uses data from the Add Health project, a program designed by J. Richard Udry, Ph.D. (principal investigator), and Peter Bearman, Ph.D., and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Persons interested in obtaining data files from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516–2524 (http://222.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). Data collection for Wave III was conducted by the Research Triangle Instituted, Research Triangle Park, NC.