ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the question whether, among children and juveniles, there is a relation between two specific forms of problem behavior: crime and accidents. Crime is generally intentional behavior. In the case of juvenile delinquency most crimes—such as theft, assault, vandalism, or sexual crimes—consist of intentional behavior. The chapter introduces some of the factors relating to the occurrence of accidents among children. It also discusses whether the correlates of involvement in accidents are similar to the factors related to involvement in crime. The chapter discusses the relation between accident liability and other problem behavior. A number of social and individual correlates of accident liability have been examined: health problems and psychiatric problems in the family, education of mother, age of mother, mother’s employment, marital tensions, mobility, and family type. They also includes home environment, socialization practices, adverse life events, social disadvantage, sex, ethnic group and the influence of individual factors.