中華心理衛生協會

 Purpose: Based on the integration of social bond theory and a general theory of crime, we explore whether childhood neglect and abuse indirectly affect adult violent crime by influencing family attachment, low self-control, situational opportunities, and early deviant behavior. We also examine a theoretical model of the influence of early life experiences on adult violent crime. Methods: We adopted a longitudinal design using data from the 1998 "Study of Early Prediction of Deviant Behavior in Adolescents" survey, which followed 386 12-year-old elementary school fifth graders in Taiwan until February 2022. We tested the theoretical model using structural equation modeling. Results: (1) Of the 386 12-year-olds, 44 (11.4%) had a police record of violent crime, with the majority of first-time offenses being assault, robbery, or homicide. (2) Childhood neglect and abuse had a significant positive direct effect and a significant negative indirect effect on adult violent crime, mediated by family attachment, low self-control, situational opportunities, and early deviant behavior. (3) Childhood neglect and abuse and early life experiences explained 44.1% of the variance in early self-reported deviant behavior, but only 8.4% of the variance in adult violent crime. Conclusion: Our analysis revealed the complex mechanism of the impact of childhood neglect and abuse on adult violent crime. Based on this finding we expect childhood intervention to be effective in preventing adult crime, so we suggest effective strategies to prevent and intervene in both child maltreatment and adult crime.