Zhu Xiaoqin, Shek Daniel T L
Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Front Psychol. 2020 Dec 14;11:615900. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.615900. eCollection 2020.
The general proposition of the positive youth development (PYD) approach is that developmental assets such as psychosocial competence can promote healthy adolescent development and reduce problem behavior. Despite that many Western studies have shown that PYD attributes are negatively related to adolescent delinquency, not all empirical findings support the negative associations. Although different dimensions of PYD attributes may bear differential relationships with delinquency, this possibility has not been properly examined so far. In addition, related studies in mainland China do not exist. Finally, the possible mediating role of life satisfaction in linking PYD attributes to delinquency has rarely been studied. To address the research gaps and understand how PYD attributes are associated with adolescent delinquency and the underlying mediating effect of life satisfaction, matched longitudinal data were collected from 2,648 mainland Chinese secondary school students (1,109 girls, Mean age = 13.12 ± 0.81 years at Wave 1) at two waves which were separated by one year. On each occasion, participants completed a questionnaire containing validated measures of PYD attributes, life satisfaction, and delinquency. Congruent with the general theoretical prediction of the PYD approach, different PYD attributes were inversely related to concurrent and future adolescent delinquency in separate regression analyses. In addition, the negative predictions were mediated by life satisfaction. When all PYD attributes were included in a single path analysis model, three findings were observed. First, two PYD dimensions, including self-identity and general PYD attributes, showed robust negative predictions on delinquency via life satisfaction. Second, prosocial attributes displayed a weak and unstable negative predictive effect. Third, cognitive-behavioral competence showed an unexpected positive predictive effect on delinquency directly or via its negative effects on life satisfaction. The present findings add value to the existing literature by revealing the predictive role of PYD attributes on life satisfaction and delinquency among mainland Chinese adolescents. The findings also reinforce the importance of investigating individual dimensions of PYD attributes simultaneously in the research field. The present study suggests that it is promising to cultivate PYD attributes as a strategy to reduce delinquency among adolescents in mainland China.
积极青少年发展（PYD）方法的总体命题是，诸如心理社会能力等发展资产可以促进青少年的健康发展并减少问题行为。尽管许多西方研究表明，PYD属性与青少年犯罪呈负相关，但并非所有实证研究结果都支持这种负相关关系。虽然PYD属性的不同维度可能与犯罪行为存在不同的关系，但到目前为止，这种可能性尚未得到充分研究。此外，中国大陆还没有相关研究。最后，生活满意度在连接PYD属性与犯罪行为之间可能起到的中介作用也很少被研究。为了填补这些研究空白，并了解PYD属性如何与青少年犯罪相关联以及生活满意度的潜在中介作用，我们从2648名中国大陆中学生（1109名女生，第一波调查时平均年龄 = 13.12 ± 0.81岁）中收集了两波间隔一年的匹配纵向数据。每次调查时，参与者都要完成一份问卷，其中包含经过验证的PYD属性、生活满意度和犯罪行为的测量指标。与PYD方法的一般理论预测一致，在单独的回归分析中，不同的PYD属性与青少年当前和未来的犯罪行为呈负相关。此外，这些负向预测是由生活满意度介导的。当将所有PYD属性纳入一个单一的路径分析模型时，观察到了三个结果。首先，包括自我认同和一般PYD属性在内的两个PYD维度，通过生活满意度对犯罪行为表现出强烈的负向预测作用。其次，亲社会属性表现出微弱且不稳定的负向预测作用。第三，认知行为能力对犯罪行为直接或通过其对生活满意度的负面影响表现出意想不到的正向预测作用。本研究结果通过揭示PYD属性对中国大陆青少年生活满意度和犯罪行为的预测作用，为现有文献增添了价值。研究结果还强调了在研究领域同时调查PYD属性各个维度的重要性。本研究表明，培养PYD属性作为减少中国大陆青少年犯罪的一种策略具有很大的前景。
