Adolescent Lifestyle Risk by Gender and Ethnic Background
| Author | Robert Svensson,Lieven Pauwels |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370808098102 |
| Published date | 01 January 2009 |
| Date | 01 January 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Volume 6 (1): 5–23: 1477-3708
DOI: 10.1177/1477370808098102
Copyright © 2009 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC
www.sagepublications.com
Adolescent Lifestyle Risk by Gender
and Ethnic Background
Findings from Two Urban Samples
Lieven Pauwels
Ghent University, Belgium
Robert Svensson
Malmö University, Sweden
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to explain individual differences in lifestyle risk. Lifestyle
risk has previously been identified as a key social mechanism which has strong
direct effects on juvenile offending. Building on statements derived from the
Situational Action Theory (SAT), we test the assumptions that (1) family structure
explains individual differences in lifestyle risk, (2) these effects are moderated by
mechanisms of social control, and (3) the effects of mechanisms of control are
moderated by the effect of propensity to offend (morality and self-control). It is
assumed that this model holds in different population segments such as sub-
populations by gender and ethnic background. Results from two independently
drawn urban samples in Belgium and Sweden are used to discuss the
generalization of these findings. Mixed support is found for the ‘equality of
effects’ thesis.
KEY WORDS
Adolescent Lifestyles / Gender / Immigrant Background / Informal Control /
Propensity to Offend / Situational Action Theory.
Lifestyle risk as a dependent variable in criminology
Recent developments within theories that explain individual differences in
offending point to the importance of crime-inducing settings, often referred
to as the concept of lifestyle risk. One theory that explicitly emphasizes the
ARTICLES
importance of lifestyle risk or situational risk within a framework of struc-
tural relationships between causal variables is the Situational Action Theory
(SAT) developed by Wikström (2005). The SAT stresses the importance of
the interaction between individuals and settings to explain why some
adolescents perceive offending as an alternative and then choose to
offend. However, the importance of settings in explaining individual
differences in offending has been acknowledged by previous researchers
(e.g. Nofzinger and Kurtz 2005; Osgood and Anderson 2004; Vazsonyi et
al. 2002).
Research assessing the effects of lifestyle risk is relatively scarce and
uses different measurements, which impedes the generalization of findings.
Some scholars note that there is a strong but conditional effect of lifestyle
risk on individual differences in offending (Pauwels 2007; Wikström and
Butterworth 2006; Wikström and Svensson 2008; Svensson and Pauwels
2008). These authors report interaction effects between lifestyle risk and
individual propensity to offend.
In the SAT model it is assumed that the effect of structural back-
ground (gender, immigrant background and family structure) is by and
large mediated by mechanisms of control and propensity to offend (moral-
ity and self-control).
Given the importance of lifestyle risk in explaining offending, this
research focuses on the role of family structure, mechanisms of social con-
trol and propensity to offend in explaining individual differences in lifestyle
risk. Although the SAT does not consider gender and immigrant back-
ground as ‘real causes’ in the explanation of offending, the theory does rec-
ognize that these ‘background variables’ might indirectly shape behaviour.
It is therefore assumed that social controls and propensity to offend might
function differently in groups defined by gender and immigrant background
(Wikström 2005). The extent to which this assumption holds in such sub-
samples is the core issue in the research reported here.
The definition of lifestyle risk used in this research is adapted from
Wikström and Butterworth (2006). Lifestyle risk is conceived of as a multi-
dimensional phenomenon, including where adolescents spend their leisure
time (hanging around in unstructured environments such as street corners),
what kind of risky activities they engage in (consuming alcohol) and who
they are spending their leisure time with (delinquent peers). Although each
of these aspects is from a theoretical point of view an independent but inter-
correlated dimension and can be analysed separately, Pauwels (2007)
argued that the multidimensional approach can be considered of interest if
the researcher wants to avoid the possibility that adolescents are classified
as ‘high risk’ too early.
6 European Journal of Criminology 6(1)
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