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Within-Individual Effect of Perceived Informal Labeling on Delinquency: Moderation Processes in a South Korean Sample

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Abstract

Labeling perspective offers unique insights into the role of social sanctions in increasing the chance of continued deviance. The scholarship on labeling has progressed from confirming the impact of labeling to examining the factors that could potentially mitigate the negative consequences of labeling. We analyze a nationally representative sample of Korean youths (14,564 observations on 2719 respondents) with a series of two-level random effects negative binomial regression models to examine within-individual effects of perceived informal labeling on delinquency and moderators. Results confirmed the impact of perceived informal labeling on youth delinquency among South Korean youths and showed moderating effects of sex and social control factors. Compared to males, female youths were more vulnerable to perceived informal labeling, while attachment to close friends and delinquent friends exacerbated the impact of informal labeling. Attachment to teachers was associated with a reduced effect of perceived informal labeling while attachment to parents increased the positive within-individual effect on delinquency. The results add to our understanding of moderating processes in perceived informal labeling and highlight the importance of addressing within-individual effects in labeling research.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers, Dr. Carter Hay and Dr. Sonja Siennick, for their helpful comments on this manuscript. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Ming Cui and Dr. William Bales for their help with the earlier version of this project.

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  1. Department of Police Administration, Keimyung University, Dalseo-gu, Daegu, South Korea

    Joonggon Kim

  2. Departments of Criminal Justice Studies and Sociology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA

    Insun Park

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Kim, J., Park, I. Within-Individual Effect of Perceived Informal Labeling on Delinquency: Moderation Processes in a South Korean Sample. J Dev Life Course Criminology 8, 597–623 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-022-00209-8

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