Antisocial Peer Association

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Pages: 3

In recent years, there has been a lot of speculation regarding antisocial peer association and its role in the development of later or continued criminal behaviour. Individuals who are associated with other criminals commit majority of offences both violent and non-violent. It is hypothesized that participation in crime is directly related to antisocial peers. However, recent studies have shown a direct relationship with other factors (parental control and attachment, peer rejection, and self-esteem) that indirectly lead to association with criminals and subsequent criminal behaviour. More importantly, these studies attempt to identify explanations for criminal association and behaviour.

According to the model of Criminal Social Identity, Boduszek and Hyland (2011) suggest that one’s criminal associations and self-esteem influence criminal behaviour. The motivation to associate with
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Three hypotheses were tested: first, non-sex offenders exhibit greater antisocial attitudes than sex offenders. Second, rapists exhibit greater antisocial attitudes when compared to other sex offenders and third, sex offenders require more antisocial entitlement than non-sex offenders. The study consisted of 210 incarcerated adult males in four Ontario federal institutions. Prior to testing, offenders were divided into two index offence groups consisting of 90 sex offenders and 119 non-sex offenders (Mills et al., 2004). The sex offender group consisted of participants aged 21-79 years (M= 43, SD =14) and were separated by race: White 86%, Black 6%, Asian 6%, and Other 2% (Mills et al., 2004). Offenders were separated further into three categories of sexual offending: rapists 37%, child molesters 33%, and incest offences 30% (Mills et al.,