A study of the mediating role of resilience in personality characteristics and attitudes toward delinquency

Adolescence is one of the most sensitive, critical and important periods of development in human lifespan. Adolescents may make decisions that lead to risky and inefficient behaviors such as delinquency because of the instability in their mental status. The aim of the present study is to study the mediating role of resilience in personality characteristics and attitudes toward delinquency. The sample of this descriptive study included 400 female high school students in secondary schools in Kerman in the second semester of the 2012-2013 academic year, selected by random sampling method. Attitude toward Delinquency scale, Resilience Scale, and NEO five-factor inventory were used as instruments. The data were analyzed with path analysis method by Mplus-5 software. The analysis showed that conscientiousness (P<0.001) and neuroticism (P 0.001) could predict negative attitude toward delinquency via resilience both directly and indirectly, while extraversion (P<0.01) could only predict negative attitude toward delinquency indirectly. Also, conscientiousness (P<0.001) had a negative and significant effect on positive attitude toward delinquency. According to the results, since adolescents are more exposed to social and psychological risks, it seems that we can prevent them from delinquency by enhancing their conscientiousness and resilience.