The Impact of Life Domains on Developmental Trajectories of Peer Delinquency among Korean Adolescents: A Partial Test of Agnew’s General Theory of Crime and Delinquency with a Group-Based Trajectory Modeling Approach

• Author: Sujung Cho,Brett Lacey
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211016326
• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Date: 01 October 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211016326

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(13-14) 1387 –1414

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211016326

journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo

Article

The Impact of Life Domains

on Developmental

Trajectories of Peer

Delinquency among Korean

Adolescents: A Partial Test

of Agnew’s General Theory of

Crime and Delinquency with

a Group-Based Trajectory

Modeling Approach

Sujung Cho1 and Brett Lacey1

Abstract

Agnew introduced a new integrated theory; the General Theory of Crime and

Delinquency, in which he attempted to corral the most influential predictors of

criminal behavior into more parsimonious propositions of multiple life domains—self,

family, peer, school, and work—as well as constraints against crime and motivations

for it. This study presents a partial test of the theory using longitudinal data of 2,351

Korean adolescents. A group-based modeling approach (latent class growth analysis)

was run to examine direct effects of life domains on peer delinquency as well as

mediating effects of constraints and motivation on their relationships. The study

identified three subgroups: early onset/decreasing (3.2%), moderate (12.4%), and

low/none (84.4%). The findings revealed that the self and peer domains exhibited a

positive impact on the early onset/decreasing trajectory group compared to the low/

none group with the constraint exhibiting a negative impact. The moderate trajectory

group demonstrated that the self-domain was significant but was not rendered

insignificant after controlling for constraints and motivations. The study provided

moderate support for life domains within Agnew’s new theory for peer delinquency

in nonwestern countries.

1Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sujung Cho, Criminology and Criminal Justice, School of Justice and Public Safety, Southern Illinois

University, 1000 Faner Drive Faner Hall, Mail Code 4504, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.

Email: sujung.cho@siu.edu

1016326IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211016326International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyCho and Lacey

research-article2021

1388 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 66(13-14)

Keywords

life domains, constraints, motivations, peer delinquency, group-based modeling

Introduction

Growing empirical studies in developmental and life course research have suggested

that peer delinquency continues to be placed as either the core causal mechanism or

a correlate of delinquent behavior (Cho & Lee, 2020; Janssen et al., 2016; Manzoni

& Schwarzenegger, 2019; Muftić et al., 2014; Walters, 2020). Criminological theo-

ries such as social learning, differential association, and cultural transmission theo-

ries have been applied to examine whether delinquent peer association (DPA) causes

delinquency, but not how it causes delinquency. Broader findings indicated support

from the theoretical assumptions of this study which employed assumptions of

social learning, social bond, and social control theories, which are all included in

Agnew’s (2005) integration resulting in the General Theory of Crime and

Delinquency (GTCD). To gain a better understanding of the potential mediating

effects of constraints and motivations on the relationships between life domains and

peer delinquency trajectories, it is necessary to examine Agnew’s GTCD more

closely. Relatively little has been explained about intervening mechanisms by which

prior experiences are theorized to influence later experiences through constraints

and motivations. This study will examine peer delinquency in the theoretical frame-

work of the GTCD. Specifically, the conditioning effects of peer delinquency on

Agnew’s life domains (self, family, peers, school) on the commission of delinquency

will be examined as a partial test of GTCD.

According to developmental perspectives, peer delinquency may be dynamic

from childhood to adolescence, characterized by heterogeneity such as early-onset,

late peak, and social interactional continuous patterns (Lacourse et al., 2003; Vitaro

et al., 2005). Understanding the heterogeneity of longitudinal changes in peer

delinquency can help researchers and practitioners develop effective prevention

and intervention programs. Despite these contributions to the existing literature,

present explanations of heterogeneous population remain limited. Thus, a group-

based method (including a latent class growth analysis and growth mixture model)

is a suitable approach to capture the moving picture of peer delinquency.

Unfortunately, nearly all previous studies have relied on a variable-centered

approach in which relations between variables for all individuals were emphasized

(Horwitz et al., 2011; Nock et al., 2008). For this reason, it would be reasonable to

use another analytic method, the group-based method.1 The relations among indi-

viduals are of primary interest in the group-based method, thus preventing variable-

based oversimplification for all individuals.

In response to these criticisms, the purpose of the present study is to identify devel-

opmentally similar classes of individuals in terms of peer delinquency, and to examine

correlates and consequences, conditional on latent trajectory class membership. This

study also sought to test Agnew’s (2005) GTCD as a theoretical framework to examine

the direct effect of four life domains on peer delinquency trajectory class membership