RT Article
T1 Structured Community Activities and Moral Engagement as Deterrents to Youth Violence: a Mediation Analysis
JF American journal of criminal justice
VO 43
IS 2
SP 294
OP 312
A1 Walters, Glenn D. 1954-
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764207815
AB This study assessed whether youth involvement in structured community activities (scouting, team sports, volunteer work, and church-related endeavors) and a morally engaged belief system deterred future aggressive behavior in 1170 male delinquents. It was hypothesized that moral engagement would mediate the relationship between involvement in structured community activities and aggression but involvement in structured community activities would not mediate the relationship between moral engagement and aggression. A three-wave path analysis, in which structured community activities and moral engagement were cross-lagged at Waves 0 (baseline) and 1 and correlated with aggression at Wave 2, provided support for this hypothesis. Results showed that involvement in structured community activities encouraged moral engagement, which, in turn, inhibited aggressive behavior. Consistent with previous research, a social cognitive factor (moral engagement) did a significantly better job of mediating behavior (involvement in structured community activities) than behavior did of mediating a social cognitive factor.
K1 Mediation
K1 Aggression
K1 Moral engagement
K1 Structured community activities
DO 10.1007/s12103-017-9400-z