Environmental and Individual Factors in Adolescent Anti-sociality: A Structural Model of Mexican Teenagers.

This study was aimed at analyzing the effects of individual, family, and social factors on adolescent antisociality in Mexico. The sample comprised 184 youths: half of whom were arrested by police, and the other half of whom were teenagers from the general population, matched by age and school grade to the arrested group. Arrested adolescents were interviewed in their confinement centers, while those of the control group were sampled in the school they attended. A structural equation model was used to estimate the relationships between a negative social environment, family violence, negative individual characteristics, and antisociality. Negative social environment had a positive effect on both family violence and individual characteristics; in turn, family violence affected negative individual characteristics, which then influenced antisociality. The results indicated that negative contextual variables facilitate the development of negative individual characteristics, which then puts adolescents at risk for getting involved in antisocial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]