Girls, mental health problems, and offending: findings from a community sample

TL;DR

This study finds that adolescent girls who commit crimes have higher mental health problems, especially hyperactivity and externalizing issues, suggesting a need to address these in crime prevention.

Contribution

The study specifically examines mental health problems among offending girls in a community sample, highlighting differences in internalizing and externalizing issues.

Findings

Offending girls showed higher levels of mental health problems compared to non-offending girls.

Externalizing problems were strongly associated with offending, while internalizing problems showed mixed results.

The study emphasizes the need for crime prevention strategies to consider mental health issues in girls.

Abstract

Mental health problems (MHPs) are associated with youth offending, but research on MHPs among specifically offending girls, particularly in community settings, is limited.

To explore if MHPs were more common among adolescent girls who reported committing crimes compared to those who did not, as well as to investigate how different MHPs were associated with offending, and examine the potential effects of parental relationships, parental monitoring, and association with deviant peers.

Data were drawn from the Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Development Study (MINDS), a longitudinal study which comprises a random sample of 525 adolescents (~ 20%) born in 1995 and living in Malmö, Sweden, in 2007. The current study included the 240 girls that participated in wave two (age 16) and three (age 17) of data collection. Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire. Independent samples T-tests analysed differences in MHPs between offending and non-offending girls. Pearson’s correlation test and logistic regressions examined the association between MHPs and offending and how these associations were affected by parental relationship, parental monitoring, and deviant peers.

Offending girls had higher levels of MHPs than non-offending girls, with the most significant differences in hyperactivity and externalising problems. Logistic regressions partly confirmed these findings, showing strong associations between externalising problems and offending. Internalising problems showed mixed results in their association with offending.

Girls who had offended had higher levels of both internalising and externalising MHPs compared to those who had not offended. This indicates that measures to prevent youth crime should acknowledge MHPs. Overall, more research is needed on girls' MHPs and offending, particularly on the association between internalising problems and offending.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13034-025-00907-3.