Moral judgement and delinquency in homeless youth

The impact of the individuals' life condition on the relation between moral judgement and (delinquent) behaviour was investigated in a sample of 162 a dolescents and young adults. The sample consisted of two groups: homeless y outh and institutional youth, i.e. youth with a history of residential care . The difference in life conditions between both groups is characterised by a lack of stable social relationships and specific survival demands for th e homeless youth group. Homeless youth reported much more delinquent behavi our than institutional youth, but this difference could not be attributed t o the level of moral judgement. However, while for institutional youth a co nventional level of moral reasoning was associated with lower levels of del inquency in four domains of deviant behaviour, including violence and vanda lism, no such association was found for homeless youth. In the latter group , important predictor variables explaining delinquent behaviour, besides be ing male, were: a restrictive and affectionless parenting style, predominan ce of individuation over attachment and a passive coping style. It is concl uded that delinquent behaviour in homeless youth appeared to be caused by a lack of stable social relationships, as well as a by a lack of moral inter nalisation, with affect and cognition not being integrated.