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Expecting the unexpected? Expectations for future success among adolescent first-time offenders
Mahler, Alissa Fine, Adam Frick, Paul J. Steinberg, Laurence Cauffman, Elizabeth
Mahler, Alissa
Fine, Adam
Frick, Paul J.
Steinberg, Laurence
Cauffman, Elizabeth
Abstract
Adolescent first‐time offenders demonstrate greater risk of continued offending, justice system contact, and high school dropout. The current study evaluates if optimistic expectations protect youth by reducing offending and improving school grades for 3 years following a first arrest (N = 1,165, Mage = 15.29). This article also considers whether improved behavior raises expectations about the future and uses autoregressive latent trajectory modeling with structured residuals to examine the within‐person cross‐lagged associations between expectations and behavior. The results indicated that positive expectations reduce offending and improve grades, which are in turn associated with higher expectations. Although raising expectations may improve outcomes following an arrest, ensuring adolescents have the tools to meet their goals may be an effective way to raise expectations.
Keywords
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Child Development
Book
Volume
89
Issue
6
Page Range
e535-e551
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE)
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled