The Effects of Anxiety and Depression on Adolescent Offender Behavior
Faculty Mentor Name
Kelly Crockett, Rose Danek
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
Adolescence is marked by many physical, cognitive, moral, social, and emotional changes, some of which consist of a change in behaviors in an individual that are seen as risk-taking or unsettling. These risky behaviors, however, may be taken to a different level when an individual has a mental disorder, or disorders, like anxiety and/or depression. these same behaviors may also lead to some adolescents getting involved with the law. Such behaviors may include taking drugs, drinking alcohol, stealing, damaging property, etc. Some adolescents get involved with such tasks because they find that it is what peers are doing, while others get involved because they have a compulsion to do so, especially adolescents who are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Going further into the compulsory behaviors of adolescents that become offenders would be the categorization of life-course persistent pathways and adolescence-limited pathways. Approximately 60-70% of adolescents that become involved with the law meet the criteria for at least one mental disorder, which consists of anxiety and depression. With this statistic being significant, there has been an increased need for the juvenile justice systems to be more able to help assist adolescents with mental disorders. The goal of having juvenile justice systems is then to focus on the prevention of adolescent offenders, committing more crimes in the future, but as adults. Which then becomes another statistic, with an estimated 43% of state and 23% of federal prisoners having reported having a history of mental health problems. This study is a literature review to show the effect and impact of mental disorders, like anxiety and depression, on youth offender behavior and the prevalence of adolescents that will then become offenders in their adulthood due to the lack of treatment currently available.
The Effects of Anxiety and Depression on Adolescent Offender Behavior
Adolescence is marked by many physical, cognitive, moral, social, and emotional changes, some of which consist of a change in behaviors in an individual that are seen as risk-taking or unsettling. These risky behaviors, however, may be taken to a different level when an individual has a mental disorder, or disorders, like anxiety and/or depression. these same behaviors may also lead to some adolescents getting involved with the law. Such behaviors may include taking drugs, drinking alcohol, stealing, damaging property, etc. Some adolescents get involved with such tasks because they find that it is what peers are doing, while others get involved because they have a compulsion to do so, especially adolescents who are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Going further into the compulsory behaviors of adolescents that become offenders would be the categorization of life-course persistent pathways and adolescence-limited pathways. Approximately 60-70% of adolescents that become involved with the law meet the criteria for at least one mental disorder, which consists of anxiety and depression. With this statistic being significant, there has been an increased need for the juvenile justice systems to be more able to help assist adolescents with mental disorders. The goal of having juvenile justice systems is then to focus on the prevention of adolescent offenders, committing more crimes in the future, but as adults. Which then becomes another statistic, with an estimated 43% of state and 23% of federal prisoners having reported having a history of mental health problems. This study is a literature review to show the effect and impact of mental disorders, like anxiety and depression, on youth offender behavior and the prevalence of adolescents that will then become offenders in their adulthood due to the lack of treatment currently available.