Date on Senior Honors Thesis

3-2024

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Degree Name

B.S.

Department

Psychological and Brain Sciences

Degree Program

College of Arts and Sciences

Committee Chair

Bresin, Konrad

Committee Member

Haynes, Lora

Committee Member

Bunck, Julie

Author's Keywords

Psychopathology; Childhood Trauma; Criminality; Maltreatment; Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE); Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

Crime's detrimental impact on society, victims, families, and the justice system is undeniable. Thus, identifying factors that contribute to the perpetration of crime is essential to reduce the public health impact of crime. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are frequently found in community samples and are consistently associated with physical, psychological, and behavioral consequences. Research suggests that negative childhood experiences contribute to maladaptive behaviors, including delinquency and perpetration of crime later in life (Perez et al., 2018). The present study's purpose is to identify specific childhood experiences associated with criminality. The data presented on criminality and ACEs was collected from recruited individuals who had criminal justice or recent substance use involvement in the community of Champaign County, Illinois. The study utilized instruments such as the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Family Environmental Scale (FES), and Neighborhood Environment Scale (NES) to assess the adverse childhood experiences of 319 participants with diverse demographic backgrounds. Of the participants analyzed, using publicly available criminal records, 119 had no prior history of a criminal charge, while 199 participants had a documented history of at least one criminal charge. One participant was left out for unknown reasons. Using a logistic regression analysis with those who had criminal charge history to those who did not, in addition to zero-order correlations, this study found that emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical abuse showed no significant relationships with later-life criminality. Physical neglect emerged as a significant predictor for crime through my results. These findings underscore the significance of targeted interventions and preventive measures to address childhood risk factors and mitigate the likelihood of future criminal involvement.

Lay Summary

Understanding the root causes of criminal behavior is a fundamental pursuit in criminal psychology. Most research has focused on childhood experience and environment's roles on later criminal behavior. To better understand the complex relationship between childhood trauma and later criminality, the present study aimed to overcome existing limitations in the literature by correlating self-reports of adverse childhood experiences (e.g., abuse, neglect) and environment (e.g., family, neighborhood) and public records of criminal justice involvement. These results also show that childhood experiences impact later-life criminal engagement. Specifically, physical neglect during childhood emerged as a significant predictor for criminality in adulthood.

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