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Examining the Relationship Between Parenting, Risk-Taking, and Delinquency in Japan: Context and Empirical Applicability

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Abstract

In criminology, the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency is well established. Although research on the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency is extensive, it is primarily limited to Western contexts. Particularly for Japan, little is known about the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency, as existing empirical studies in English are scarce. The present study examines the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency in the Japanese context. In briefly reviewing the literature on risk-taking in Japan, parenting was an important influence on levels of youths' risk-taking and delinquency. The findings primarily support the mediating role of high risk-taking between parenting and delinquency. Although high risk-taking explained why low maternal attachment and monitoring was related to delinquency, it was unable to explain the relationship completely.

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Notes

  1. The seriousness scale is rated as follows: homicide, 31.1; sex offenses, 14.3; personal attack, 13.21; aggravated theft, 11.54; personal larceny, 7.1; motor vehicle theft, 6.7; burglary, 6.43; fraud, 6; common theft, 5.07; shoplifting, 2.2; vandalism, 1.8; petty larceny, 1; and public mischief, 0.7

  2. This item was changed from motor theft to bicycle/scooter/motorbike because in Japan, the majority of people do not own cars.

  3. Based on Clogg et al. (1995), this formula is suggested for use in-between-group comparisons of regression coefficients. The equation is believed to be better in detecting actual significance between groups because it does not have a negative biased estimate (i.e., it produces error estimates that are too small which inflate the z-score, encouraging types 1 and 3 errors) of the true standard deviation of the sampling distribution of coefficient differences (Paternoster, Brame, Mazerolle, and Piquero 1998). The suggested formula is Z = (b 1 − b2)/√(SEb 1 2 + SEb 2 2).

  4. For males, low maternal attachment/monitoring to high risk taking = 0.16 and high risk taking to delinquency = 0.24. For females, low maternal attachment/monitoring to high risk taking = 0.24 and high risk taking to delinquency = 0.34.

  5. For males, 0.16*0.24 = 3.8 %; for females, 0.24*0.34 = 8.2 %). These values, however, are more applicable to variables that are normally distributed ratio scales with no error,. but they were included as a gauge of the mediation effect from the study’s measures.

  6. Low maternal attachment/monitoring to delinquency for males = 23 % and for females = 33 %.

  7. Originally, maternal attachment and monitoring were highly correlated (R = .49) but paternal attachment and monitoring was not highly correlated (R = .35), and it was decided to combine these measures and separately analyze maternal and paternal parenting.

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Acknowledgments

The author is very grateful to and appreciative of Mitsuaki Ueda for all his help in the collection of this data. The author would like to also thank David P. Farrington and Daniel J. Marshall for their help and support during this research and also the Research Foundation for Safe Society and the Sasakawa Foundation for their financial support.

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  1. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA, Cambridge, UK

    Laura Bui

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Correspondence to Laura Bui.

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Bui, L. Examining the Relationship Between Parenting, Risk-Taking, and Delinquency in Japan: Context and Empirical Applicability. Asian Criminology 9, 171–187 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-014-9184-8

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