{"title":"The age-graded effects of psychosocial maturity on legal socialization across the adolescent developmental course in youth offenders","authors":"Colleen M. Berryessa, Thomas W. Wojciechowski","doi":"10.1080/10888691.2022.2067854","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study, using a sample of youth offenders from the Pathways to Desistance Study (N = 1354), examines Greenberger and Sorensen’s model of “psychosocial maturity” as a predictor of legal socialization (legal cynicism and legitimacy) across the adolescent developmental course, as well as the differential importance of this relationship by age. Psychosocial maturity significantly predicted lower levels of legal cynicism, but also lower levels of legitimacy, from ages 14–25. Yet, when considering the salience of these relationships by age, results suggest that the relationship between psychosocial maturity and legitimacy may show little variation as adolescent offenders age, but that the salience of psychosocial maturity on explaining patterns of legal cynicism declines with age during development into emerging adulthood. This work’s potential implications for promising interventions that foster psychosocial maturity in early adolescence to reduce legal cynicism of youth who have offended or are at high-risk of offending are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47792,"journal":{"name":"Applied Developmental Science","volume":"27 1","pages":"299 - 319"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Developmental Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2022.2067854","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract This study, using a sample of youth offenders from the Pathways to Desistance Study (N = 1354), examines Greenberger and Sorensen’s model of “psychosocial maturity” as a predictor of legal socialization (legal cynicism and legitimacy) across the adolescent developmental course, as well as the differential importance of this relationship by age. Psychosocial maturity significantly predicted lower levels of legal cynicism, but also lower levels of legitimacy, from ages 14–25. Yet, when considering the salience of these relationships by age, results suggest that the relationship between psychosocial maturity and legitimacy may show little variation as adolescent offenders age, but that the salience of psychosocial maturity on explaining patterns of legal cynicism declines with age during development into emerging adulthood. This work’s potential implications for promising interventions that foster psychosocial maturity in early adolescence to reduce legal cynicism of youth who have offended or are at high-risk of offending are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The focus of this multidisciplinary journal is the synthesis of research and application to promote positive development across the life span and across the globe. The journal publishes research that generates descriptive and explanatory knowledge about dynamic and reciprocal person-environment interactions essential to informed public dialogue, social policy, and preventive and development optimizing interventions. This includes research relevant to the development of individuals and social systems across the life span -- including the wide range of familial, biological, societal, cultural, physical, ecological, political and historical settings of human development.