Dimensions of Nature and Behavior Predicting Delinquency in Children and Adolescents

Adolescence is a critical developmental period that, given the amount and severity of associated changes (e.g., biological and psychological), may automatically set the stage for an individual's delinquency. This research was carried out with the aim of investigating the role of the dimensions of nature and behavior in predicting delinquency in children and adolescents.

This research is a survey and correlation study. The research samples include 400 male high school students in Khorram Abad city, who were randomly selected in a multi-stage manner. Cloninger's (1994) Personality Dimensions Questionnaire, and the Juvenile and Youth Delinquency Questionnaire (2015) were used to collect data. In order to analyze the data, Pearson correlation and Multiple Regression were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 26.

The results of the correlation coefficient showed that there is a relationship between the dimensions of nature and behavior with juvenile delinquency (P≥0.001). According to the results of regression analysis, novelty, harm avoidance and self-improvement were significantly predictors of students' positive attitude towards delinquency (P≥0.05).

Personality characteristics can be considered as a risk factor for teenagers' tendency to delinquency. The necessity of further studies in order to investigate the action of personality, family, social and cultural factors in the emergence of delinquent behaviors was discussed for the systematic etiology of delinquency in order to design effective preventive and therapeutic interventions.