AbstractsSocial Sciences

Criminality can have serious and numerous effects of both individuals and society and why youths engage in criminal actions is a question concerning several instances. In this study we investigate possible factors that influence criminality among youths by analyzing a self-survey questionnaire. To identify the factors the technique of exploratory factor analysis is used. The relationships between the factors and criminality are then assessed with a structural equation model. The objective is also to investigate if the factors relate differently to criminality depending on gender why the structural equation model is performed on males and females separately. From the analysis we identified seven factors. Four of them seem to have an impact on youths’ criminal behavior; criminality among friends , attitudes towards severe crimes , relationships to friends and exposure and participation in negative social behavior . For the other three factors ( school performance , family relations and attitude towards illicit actions) we found no clear relationship to criminal behavior. The results also indicate that criminality among friends influence males to a larger degree than females. Whereas the relationship between criminal behavior and exposure and participation in negative social behavior is stronger for females than males. For the other factors no major differences between male and females can be distinguished. The overall picture produced by the analysis suggest that the influences of the identified factors on criminality are quite modest and that the patterns for males and females are quite similar.