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Life Course Statuses of Justice-Involved Youth Transitioning to Adulthood: Differences and Change in Offending and Mental Health

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Abstract

Compared to their peers, youth in the juvenile justice system have greater prevalence of mental health problems and a higher likelihood of involvement in delinquency. But little is known about mental health and offending outcomes over time during the transition to adulthood for this population. Using hierarchical linear modeling and data from 1829 individuals recruited to the Northwestern Juvenile Project, we use four time periods, covering approximately 5 years, to look at these outcomes. We operationalize mental health problems as mood disorders and investigate the correlation between offending and mood disorder over time. We then investigate the impact of life course statuses (e.g., marriage, cohabitation, work, and relationships) on mood disorders and offending, both for the overall sample and within sex and age groups. Findings suggest that mood disorders and offending are positively associated across time, and various life course statuses are associated with offending over time, net of mental health problems. Conversely, the same life course statuses had little impact on mood disorders during this period, which were more related to early events such as maltreatment, individual functioning, and mental health histories, with observed differences by sex. These findings illuminate both similarities and divergent patterns that may drive the association between mental health and offending during the transition to adulthood for justice-involved youth.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are from the Inter-university Consortium for Polictical and Social Research via a Restricted Data Use Agreement.

Notes

  1. “Other race” includes responses of American Indian, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, Biracial, or Multiracial to the question “Which of these racial or ethnic groups best describes you?” Given the small cell count, for confidentiality concerns, it was necessary to combine this category with White.

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Funding

Partial support for this research came from a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure grant, P2C HD042828, to the Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology at the University of Washington.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Oklahoma, Kaufman Hall, 780 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    John Leverso & A. C. Ferraro

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, 1911 Building, Office 339, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    April D. Fernandes

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Washington, 211 Savery Hall, Box 353340, Seattle, WA, 98195-3340, USA

    Jerald R. Herting

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5 and 6.

Table 5 Outcome correlations over time for mood disorder, unweighted
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Table 6 Outcome correlations over time for offending, unweighted
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Leverso, J., Ferraro, A.C., Fernandes, A.D. et al. Life Course Statuses of Justice-Involved Youth Transitioning to Adulthood: Differences and Change in Offending and Mental Health. J Dev Life Course Criminology 9, 273–302 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-023-00226-1

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