Does life satisfaction protect against adolescent offending? (original) (raw)

Viljoen, J.L., Shaffer, C. S., Bhatt, G. Tweed, R., Hanniball, K., Aknin, L, Gagnon, N., Dooley, S., & Douglas, K. S. (2017, June). Does life satisfaction protect against adolescent offending? Paper presented at the 17th Annual International Conference of Forensic Mental Health Services, Split, Croatia. Interventions for offenders often focus on reducing risk rather than increasing quality of life. However, it is possible that being happy and satisfied with life might protect adolescents from subsequent offending. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two prospective studies. In study 1, life satisfaction significantly predicted lower self-reported offending in a sample of 406 high school students. Similarly, in study 2, life satisfaction predicted lower offending in a sample of 120 at-risk youth (e.g., youth on probation). These findings suggest that life satisfaction may be a viable treatment target for adolescent offenders. However, further research is needed.