Leiden University Student Repository

Blazer, Esmee (2025)

Kindermishandeling: Het Verband met Gewelddadig Delinquent Gedrag en de Rol van Vijandige Attributies

Master thesis | Education and Child Studies (MSc)

This study examines the association between child maltreatment and violent delinquent behavior in adolescents, with a focus on the role of hostile attributions as a mediating factor. The research firstly aims to explore whether different types of child maltreatment – physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect – are linked to violent delinquency and secondly aims to explore the relationship between the level of exposure to child maltreatment and violent delinquency, and if hostile attributions (partly) explain this relationship. The study is conducted within a juvenile detention center and involves 46 male adolescents aged 16 to 24. Using self-report measures and official records, data were collected on participants’ experiences of child maltreatment, their involvement in violent offenses, and their tendency to exhibit hostile attributions. The results showed that only emotional abuse was significantly associated with higher levels of violent delinquency, while other forms of...Show moreThis study examines the association between child maltreatment and violent delinquent behavior in adolescents, with a focus on the role of hostile attributions as a mediating factor. The research firstly aims to explore whether different types of child maltreatment – physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect – are linked to violent delinquency and secondly aims to explore the relationship between the level of exposure to child maltreatment and violent delinquency, and if hostile attributions (partly) explain this relationship. The study is conducted within a juvenile detention center and involves 46 male adolescents aged 16 to 24. Using self-report measures and official records, data were collected on participants’ experiences of child maltreatment, their involvement in violent offenses, and their tendency to exhibit hostile attributions. The results showed that only emotional abuse was significantly associated with higher levels of violent delinquency, while other forms of child maltreatment (physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect) did not show a direct association with violent delinquency. Additionally, adolescents exposed to higher levels of child maltreatment were more likely to exhibit hostile attributions. However, no significant association between the level of exposure to child maltreatment and violent delinquency was found, and therefore no mediating effect of hostile attributions. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions focusing on emotional trauma and cognitive processing, particularly hostile attributions, to reduce violent delinquency in adolescents with a history of maltreatment. It’s important that future research investigates whether these results can be replicated in a more diverse sample including non-abused youth and with a more differentiated manner of measuring violent delinquency.Show less

Author

Blazer, Esmee

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Orthopedagogiek

Supervisors

Berkel, S.R. van

ECTS Credits

20

Language

nl