The impact of introspection and resilience on abstention and desistance from delinquent behavior among adolescents at risk

Abstract

This study examines the subjective processes of introspection of three groups of adolescents at risk and in distress and analyzes their perceived impact on the development of resilience and, consequently, the abstention and desistence from criminal conduct or, alternatively, the intensification of delinquent behavior. The three groups are: stable normal adolescents with neither past nor current involvement in criminal behavior; persistent criminal adolescents with past and current involvement in criminal activities; adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior with a criminal past but no current involvement in delinquent behavior. Our main findings are that (a) the processes of introspection and self-exploration of risk and distress factors have a perceived positive impact on current and future modes of thought and behavior among stable normal adolescents and juveniles limited to temporary delinquent behavior; (b) processes of introspection have a positive impact on the development of resilience and internal change among adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior. We conclude that, first, processes of introspection assist in the development of resilience among various groups of adolescents at risk and, consequently, in the desistence and abstention from crime; second, periods of crises and distress among adolescents at risk may serve as opportunities for introspection and possible shift from a criminal lifestyle to a normal one; and, third, failure to assume responsibility for their involvement in delinquent behavior may lead criminal adolescents at risk to develop deterministic attitudes toward numerous distress and risk factors in their lives and, consequently, continue with their criminal lifestyles.

Keywords

Adolescent introspection resilience risk

Introduction

Research has revealed a relationship between exposure to traumatic experiences and development of criminal or antisocial behavior (Hauser et al., 2006; Lynch, 2003). Nonetheless, additional studies have emphasized that individuals who underwent such experiences had the ability to overcome their immediate and long-term influences, return to normal life and function normally at a later stage in life (Bonanno, 2004; Farrington, 2002; Luthar, 2006; Masten, 2011; Masten and Gewirtz, 2006; Seginer, 2008). The ability to successfully overcome traumatic experiences and lead a normal and standard life is termed ‘resilience’ (Garbarino, 2003; Rutter, 2012).

Resilience is defined as the human ability to cope with traumatic events, overcome stress and distress, learn from challenging situations, and positively change as a result of crises in life (Bonanno, 2004; Garbarino, 2003; Hauser et al., 2006). It is a complicated and flexible process that takes place as a result of reciprocal relations between individuals and several distress factors (Fraser, 2004; Laufer and Solomon, 2006). This process, which incorporates the realization of several mental and survival skills (Lau and Van Niekerk, 2011), enables individuals to react to traumatic events and stressful circumstances in an optimistic and adaptive way and, simultaneously, to maintain normal levels of psychological and physiological functioning (Bonanno, 2004; Rutter, 1990). Such skills include self-efficiency, self-control, flexibility of thought, ability to adapt to unexpected changes, development of firm social relations, self-trust, and a willingness to act firmly toward the achievement of a desired goal (Bonanno et al., 2005; Moi and Gjengedal, 2008; Williams et al., 2003).

The development of resilience among several adult and juvenile populations was mainly examined with respect to levels of exposure to a variety of risky and protective factors (Lynch, 2003; Zautra et al., 2010). In essence, risk factors are various features that may be correlated with negative conduct among adults or adolescents, such as dropping out of school (Hardy, 2006), misuse of illegal drugs or alcohol, lack of ability to develop social skills, and criminality (Fraser, 2004). These factors include severe poverty, violent neighborhoods, sexual or physical abuse, and dysfunctional families (Hauser et al., 2006). Protective factors include various elements that enable individuals to constructively adjust to and function in discouraging environments (Masten, 2007). These factors moderate the levels of vulnerability of the individuals and, as a result, enable them to develop and establish social skills that are considered positive and achieve academic successes (Rutter, 1990).

Regardless of the nature of the factors (that is, risky or protective), a number of researchers highlighted their dynamic and inconstant nature and their consequential ability to interchange. Explicitly, risk factors may convert into protective factors and vice versa while taking into account the way they are perceived and dealt with by individuals at risk (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Ronel and Levy-Cahana, 2011; Seginer, 2008). Attributing a meaning of protection to risk factors requires changes in the perception of reality, which may occur as a result of several psychological processes, including introspection (Locke, 2009; Marcia, 1993).

Introspection is a process that involves an individual exploration of his/her internal world, an identification and interpretation of various mental processes and an examination of mental, emotional, and motivational processes and experiences (Vermersch, 2009; Wolin and Wolin, 1993). The nature of these processes, which force individuals to direct a great deal of attention toward themselves, enables them to reach high levels of self-awareness and self-knowledge, to improve their ability of identifying risk factors and consider them as mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges, to judge themselves more accurately, and, as a result, to improve their ability to change (Kohut, 1959; Marcia, 1980; Paul and Guido, 2001; Wolin and Wolin, 1993). Therefore, introspection appears to be a significant mechanism within the development of resilience (Healy and Stewart, 1984; Pals, 2006; Ronel and Haimoff-Ayali, 2010).

Although a lot of attention has been paid to the research of resilience and the factors that increase or weaken it, two major topics have received insufficient academic attention: the subjective meaning given by individuals to different events of risk and distress in their lives, and their impact on the processes of introspection and the development of resilience (Ronel and Levy-Cahana, 2011). Furthermore, a close examination of the research of resilience reveals that most studies have been based on quantitative methodologies (Bonanno, et al., 2005; Tiet et al., 2010) and, hence, focused on risk and protective factors that were considered objective (Garbarino and Delara, 2004; Ward et al., 2007). The current research seeks to fill these gaps in our understanding of introspection and resilience. It focuses on two main themes: an analysis of the reciprocal relationship between resilience and processes of introspection among adolescents at risk, and an examination of the ability of these processes to assist the adolescents at risk in abstaining or desisting from delinquent behaviors.

Method

In order to explore processes of introspection and development of resilience among adolescents, we utilized a qualitative strategy, which is interpretive-constructive (Creswell, 2007). The main assumption of constructivism is that human beings create the world they know and understand from the interaction of the sensations that impinge on them and their responsive acts of cognition. Such an approach enabled us to incorporate unexpected contents, accommodate data upon emergence, and thereby enhance the quality and authenticity of the findings (Stake, 2010).

Research population

The current study, conducted in Israel between the years 2013 and 2014, comprised 29 young males at risk and in distress between the ages of 18–24. The age of the participants was based on the requirements of the research. This age range paved the way for better understanding the processes experienced by the participants during adolescence as well as the exposure to the processes they further experience as young adults.

These youngsters were divided into three different groups in accordance with their criminal lives as adolescents:

Stable normal adolescents (N = 8; 27.6 percent). Six group members grew up in a secure children’s home (hereinafter ‘Home’), one member grew up in a foster family and another one was homeless from the age of 13. The professional literature defines the members of this group as resilient because of their success in living a normal life and abstaining from deviant or delinquent behavior in spite of the risk factors they were exposed to in the course of their lives (Masten, 2011).

Adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior (N = 10; 34.5 percent). According to the information provided by the various authorities that followed their development (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, for example), these group members had not committed any crimes for a period of two years or more prior to the implementation of the study. The research literature defines these participants as resilient because they succeeded in desisting from criminal activities and leading a normal life.

Persistent criminal adolescents (N = 11; 37.9 percent). During the implementation of the study, 10 of these group members were under the supervision of a probation officer owing to criminal offenses committed by them and one was under house arrest. The professional literature refers to them as individuals who have not developed resilience, because of their tendency toward delinquent behavior as a result of various risk and distress factors, which they were exposed to in the course of their lives (Masten, 2011).

More than 50 percent of the research participants had served in the army¹ (N = 16; 55 percent), some as combat soldiers (N = 6) and some as members of the Special Populations Improvement Center² (N = 10) – owing to criminal records opened against them and the army’s unwillingness to recruit them for full service. All research participants are single and one participant from the criminal group is divorced and a father of a daughter.

Finally, the socio-demographic backgrounds of all research participants were fairly alike in the matter of environment, families, and socioeconomic status, and the criminal histories of members of groups 2 (for example, adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior) and 3 (for example, persistent criminal adolescents) were relatively similar with regard to age of criminal onset and types of criminal activity.

Research tools

This study used open in-depth interviews (Silverman, 2013) that were carried out in a form of a conversation. The interviews, which followed an interview guide, focused on a number of issues related to the research questions, and encouraged the participants to expose their personal stories and to relate to them and to their subjective and retrospective meanings (Kvale, 1996). The topics that were covered in the interviews are: (a) participants’ social background (for example, family, neighborhood); (b) meaningful figures in the interviewees’ lives and meaningful life events; (c) relationships with peers; (d) perceptions of past, present and future life styles; (e) attitudes toward criminality and antisocial behavior; and (f) strategies and techniques for solving problems. The course of the interviews was designed in accordance with the answers received. The significant advantage of this research tool relates to its ability to portray the interviewee’s world of meanings in a comprehensive way.

Research procedure

Three different sources helped us with the participants’ recruitment process:

Adult Probation Services Division of the Israel Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services.

Rehabilitative Homes for children and adolescents at risk, which are under the responsibility of the Israel Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services.

An alcohol and drug therapeutic community.

The conduct of the interviews with the participants was approved by the Israeli National Adult Probation Service, the Supervisor of the Chain of Rehabilitative Homes in Israel and the Supervisor of the therapeutic community. The selected candidates were informed about the general purpose of the study and were asked about their willingness to participate. The confidentiality of the interviews was ensured, and all participants signed an informed consent form, approved by our Institutional Review Board (for example, Independent Ethics Committee). This agreement included a statement from the interviewee, where he declared his voluntary agreement to participate in the study while acknowledging that he may withdraw from the study at any time.

During the subsequent period of six months, we conducted 76 hours of semi-structured interviews with 29 participants. Initially, 32 young adults who were willing to participate in the research were located. Nevertheless, for unknown reasons, three candidates were absent from the interviews planned for them. Further to the choices of the participants, 7 interviews were held in the rehabilitative homes, 1 in the private home of the interviewee and 21 took place in coffee shops in the residential areas of the participants or adjacent to their work place.

All interviews were held in Hebrew, recorded with the consent of the interviewees and transcribed thereafter (Doyle, 2001). The presentation of the questions was gradual: at the onset, general questions were presented to the participants (for example, ‘Could you please describe the neighborhood of your childhood?’). These questions were then followed by a set of queries focused on the core topics of the study, for example: ‘Was there a moment where you asked yourself “Why do I act this way?”?’; ‘Describe your feelings when you were imprisoned’.

The data analysis included three separate stages:

Repetitive reading of the contents of the interviews.

Identification and classification of the major topics that came up in the interviews.

Categorizations of major themes and sub-themes (Silverman, 2013).

To ensure the validity (trustworthiness) and credibility of the findings (Golafshani, 2003; Silverman, 2013), two methods were implemented: (a) peer/expert validation (in accordance with the constructivist paradigm) – data were interpreted and analyzed by two external readers (second and third authors) at different times and locations (Glazer and Strauss, 2009; Silverman, 2013); (b) the study was written as a ‘thick description’ (Tracy, 2010), so that it includes information about the context of the topics presented and corresponding citations of the interviewees and conducts an open conceptual discussion (Marshall and Rossman, 2010).

Findings

Analysis and categorization of the research findings led to the exposure of two major themes:

Introspection and transformation – this represents the self-exploration of risk and distress factors and the perceived impact of these factors on current and future modes of thought and behavior among adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior and stable normal adolescents.³

Living the transformation – this relates to processes of resilience and change considered positive (Masten, 2007), which occurred among adolescents who were limited to temporary delinquent behavior and stable normal adolescents. These individuals, inspired by several introspection processes and the development of new insights into their character and life, chose to desist from crime and to live normal lives.

Introspection and transformation

A central motif, which was introduced by stable normal participants and participants who were limited to temporary delinquent behavior, relates to the connection between processes of introspection and the reinterpretation of various distress factors and results in the embrace of innovative approaches to deal with them. According to the participants of the second group, the criminal activities led them to an emotional breaking point. Some experienced a personal crisis when they felt the loss of control over their lives as a result of their addiction and were not able to lead a normal life, whereas others experienced this crisis when they were put in jail or in a detention center, where they were threatened by other prisoners or saw their own reflection in them – and were shocked thereby. According to them, they reached a stage in their lives where they had not achieved anything valuable. This motif applies to two sub-themes: introspection and insight; determinism versus indeterminism.

Introspection and insight

Participants who were limited to temporary delinquent behavior pointed to a causal connection between the introspection processes that they had already experienced, the new meanings they gave to various distress factors in their lives, and their positive and significant impact on their ways of thought and conduct.

I saw people in the street who are shit, sorry for the word, and I am not like them… That is not me. Their lack of feeling, the way they talk… I thought a lot about it and it depressed me. I lost hope in the detention center. I was alone and I had time to think. Suddenly I started to think – what for? (Chen)

I made a switch in the army. You are taught to receive authority. … I was a child who found it extremely difficult to accept discipline. I made a lot of mess [in the army]. I was fighting with two others. We beat each other up. But then I finished boot camp. I explained to the commander that I chose to be someone else. There I understood that this was not the way! … Only I have the right to decide who I am! (Nave)

Nave’s statement strongly demonstrates the transformative power of introspection: initially, he behaved in a familiar manner (for example, fighting) but later on, owing to a grant of an ‘extra change’ from the military, he successfully completed the boot camp and changed his state of mind as regards future conduct.

With regard to the stable normal adolescents, their testimonies reflect high levels of resilience and increasing introspection processes. Geva, for example, shared his negative attitudes toward violence and brutality in school and his decision to refrain from such behaviors:

At school, there were always fights between the Russians and the Ethiopians, the Caucasians [immigrants to Israel from former USSR, Ethiopia and Caucasus region, respectively] and the native Israelis, but I did not get involved in them. As a matter of fact, sometimes I was trying to be the one who mediates between them.

Dotan, who was physically abused from early childhood and who was exposed to frequent occurrences of domestic violence, including the murder of his mother by his father, emphasized his tendency, from an early age, to keep away from drug dealers and violent people in his neighborhood and free himself from these ‘risk factors’. Such clear and decisive thought and decision-making processes, which reflect his conscious awareness of risk factors and a clear and focused determination to protect himself from them, are probably an outcome of several introspective processes:

There were stabbings in my neighborhood every week. … There were also drugs and arrests. I have chosen not to touch drugs. I chose only the good friends. I connect only to people whom I feel good with, whom I trust.

As to the persistent criminal participants, the interviews reveal that they did not experience any processes of introspection and, as a result, did not try to examine and discover the factors causing them to continue with their criminal conduct.

We had neighbors who were drug addicts. The first time I tried drugs was at the age of 10. At the age of 13 I already used them every day. Later on I became addicted to methadone. At the age of 15 it had already become out of control. In order to satisfy my parents, I ‘acted’ and went to the therapeutic community. Three months later I wanted to leave, and then I returned to the same house, the same neighborhood. I immediately took heroin. I violated the court order and did not return [to the therapeutic community]. Eventually, I was caught and tried. I said that I suffer and that I want to have a second chance, but I went back to drugs. (Aviv)

Determinism versus indeterminism

Participants limited to temporary delinquent behavior referred to distress factors as non-deterministic. Although most of them claim that they used to attach their antisocial and criminal activities to familial rejection and feelings of hopelessness (‘there is nothing to lose’), they currently and retrospectively realize that these activities were a result of their personal choice. Therefore, the shift from a normal life to a criminal life and vice versa was their responsibility.

Goel, for example, argued that his violent uncontrolled sexual behavior was an outcome of domestic physical victimization during childhood. However, processes of introspection during adolescence led him to realize that these behaviors were a result of personal desires and preferences that could have been controlled:

If I came home too late, my dad would have broken a broom over my head. That was reality. At some moments, I just gave up. I lived like an automaton. I became insane. My [criminal] actions were automatic. I did everything unconsciously. I often realized that I was going to do something wrong but would still do it. Today, I am 23 [years old] and I understand that I have to change my distorted views and wake up from all these fantasies. I ended my relationships with all my [previous and criminal] friends, and during the last two and a half years I have been in the NA [Narcotics Anonymous] and SA [Sexaholics Anonymous]. I now realize that I have to give up many things: wild relationships, prostitutes, pornography and drugs. It is very difficult, but it protects me.

Meni, who grew up in a distressed neighborhood and consequently felt that he was capable of engaging in violent and non-violent criminal activities, described how, during one of his arrests, he realized that he was the one responsible for his future choices:

I decided to change. I was in jail and many people rejected me. They did not want to deal with me. They kept away from my parents. Finally I understood that I had to stay away from these friends. I felt like a criminal. I had a reputation of a criminal. . . In the past, when people used to hit me, I would immediately react, but today I try to keep away and not react.

The above descriptions suggest that the shift from deterministic to non-deterministic perceptions of distress factors among adolescents at risk lies in one’s ability to authentically self-examine oneself and one’s internal world without masks and self-lies, to identify the ‘good’ and ‘positive’ along with the ‘bad’ and ‘negative’ elements and to provide them with new meanings of growth.

In contrast to the claims made by participants who were limited to temporary delinquent behavior, interviewees from the group of ‘persistent criminals’ claim that they repeatedly considered themselves as victims of uncontrollable difficult circumstances and therefore were not responsible for their criminal conduct:

Right after my father died, I started to go downhill… I did not want to study anything! I dropped out of school and sat at home. I started to live by myself. Suddenly there was no one to guide me. . . I was depressed and I did not want to get out of bed. Everything I planned in life failed… As a result of this obstacle [criminal record] I did not do anything for one year. I could have done so many things – finish military service, work – but (eventually) nothing was done. (Liad)

Similarly, Yotam describes his delinquent behavior as a by-product of a harsh and deterministic reality and severe distress:

I was a friendly kid in school. The problem was that I had no father … Thus, I found myself dwelling in misery, self-pity and lies. For example, when I realized that I wasn’t dressed well – because of poverty – I began to steal. I did stupid things to make money. I stole from teachers, children … my mother – just to show that I was worth something.

The reports of the research participants reflect the differences between two of the three research groups: participants who were involved in criminal activities and chose to desist therefrom underwent introspection, which led to a dramatic shift from a deterministic viewpoint toward risk and distress factors to a non-deterministic one and, consequently, changed their delinquent lifestyle to a normal one. In comparison, persistent criminal participants avoided any engagement in processes of introspection, and being influenced by the factors of distress in their lives, they developed a deterministic attitude toward hostility and violence and needed to act viciously and aggressively in order to survive it. As a result of such viewpoints, these participants committed crimes that have worsened and increased with time.

Living the transformation

A second major finding of this research focuses on the relationship between introspection, life reassessment, resilience, and positive change. This process was found to be relevant only for adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior and for stable normal adolescents, but irrelevant for persistent criminal juveniles. This motif relates to three sub-themes: struggling for self-transformation; thoughts about the future; and strengthening and empowerment.

Struggling for self-transformation

Some participants claimed that their criminal life eventually led them to the experience of pain, loss and exhaustion. Such experiences initiated an introspective desire to implement an internal and thorough change in their life style. Nonetheless and simultaneously, the desire for self-transformation was perceived and acknowledged as highly complicated owing to its practical consequences – relocation from their neighborhood, request for external assistance, social isolation and loneliness.

I asked the recruiting officer in the military: “Why don’t you want to recruit me?”, and he said: “Because you are problematic”. I told him that I would like to change, and he said: “OK, let’s see”. I took screening tests. A long period passed and I had already forgotten all about it. Suddenly, one day, at 7:00 o’clock in the morning, my mother woke me up, screaming: “You received a letter from the military! You are being recruited!!!” They enlisted me to the Special Populations Improvement Center in Havat Hashomer and I served my time in the military “like a pro”! (Nave)

Samir chose to work hard many hours a day as part of his courageous and highly appreciated struggle with his drug and alcohol addiction so that he does not revert to the use of such drugs, which in the past helped him ‘escape’ from the burdensome reality, which included poverty and an alcoholic father. At the same time, he continues to attribute a negative meaning to reality and to consider it extremely harsh and alienated. Thus, it seems that Samir is currently at an intersection in his life where he has significantly changed his behavior but not his thought patterns:

In my childhood I was always smiling and laughing, but today – not anymore. I have to support myself. I work hard in order not to revert to drinking alcohol and smoking marihuana …. I have a headache. I am always tired [it seems that he is about to fall – he holds his head (interviewer)]. [I am OK] only when I move, I am not tired. In the past I used to wander around, drink all day. Now I work. I work all the time.

Thoughts about the future

A second sub-category that some participants relate to focuses on the way they see their future – their will to acquire education, to find a proper job, and to raise a normal family (instead of the families they have never had). Oren, who is in the stable normal group and was physically and mentally abused by his mother and his drug-addicted father, explained:

I want to work with computers and be an officer in the military. Drugs and crime do not interest me. I have never been and will never be involved in crime. Why should I commit crimes if, instead, I can succeed in life and progress?

Geva is also a member of the stable normal group. As an adolescent he made sure that he kept away from crime. Further to his introspection about the distress factors he experienced and the way they affected him, he thought about the future and how he would function in a romantic relationship.

There were a few long and a few short relationships. I have always compared myself to others and asked myself: Will I behave normally in a relationship with a partner? Is everything alright with me? The answer was “yes”…

It seems that romantic relationships and domestic intimacy were/are perceived by some research participants as means to fulfill their emotional needs and provide them with security and love and, finally, as necessary prerequisites to being successfully reintegrated in society. In general, interviewees who shared desires and plans for the future were able to cope in a more normative way with distress and problems than their counterparts whose approaches tended to existentialism.

Strengthening and empowerment

The third sub-category relates to the effect of numerous significant events, factors and people on the participants’ feelings of belonging, security and acceptance, and the relationship between the latter and successfully managing various distressful situations.

Moshe and Nave, both ‘temporary delinquent behavior’ interviewees, focused on the emotional support they received from the staff in the rehabilitative homes:

The manager of the Home liked me… I was his “favorite”. He took me and a few other children from the Home to London to speak before donors. … He helped me many times; even when I got into real trouble. He also agreed that my brother and I will stay in the Home during the weekends. … On weekends everyone usually went home, but we did not have anywhere to go. … In the eighth grade I also had a counselor who taught me a lot. Even after he ceased to be my counselor, he invited me to his home during the holidays, when I did not have anywhere to go. You learn how to give. (Moshe)

The housemother loved me. She made me feel that “everything was OK”… “Relax”, she told me: “You do not have to struggle all the time; you are like everyone else; you are a normal child”. (Nave)

Goel, who was limited to temporary delinquent behavior, talked about a significant person in his life, who in the past had been addicted to drugs, alcohol and sex and became a trauma and recovery therapist later on. The fact that a professional figure had coped and was coping with problems similar to Goel’s filled him with self-belief and confidence.

He accompanied me from the beginning of the journey and helped me with this disease, with the addiction I had since I was 18. … I can confide in him and tell him all my problems. I can call him for each question. He understands because he has also been there, and today he helps others.

Zohar, from the same group of participants, described problems of communication with his parents because they were ‘primitive, uneducated and did not understand’ him. However, he also talked about the warmth and support he received from his grandparents and their effect on his life and his ability to change:

Grandma and grandpa gave me the things I have never received from my parents – independence, education, warmth and love… everything.

The relationships created between the participants and the significant figures in their lives positively affected their ability to lead a normal life in spite of their distress at home with their parents. Dotan, for example, a member of the stable normal group, emphasized how important the manager and the assistant manager at his Rehabilitative Home and several members of his foster family were to him, and how his desire not to disappoint them kept him away from delinquent behavior:

There are two significant people in my life – the manager and the assistant manager of the [Rehabilitative] Home. Without them I do not know where I would have ended up. The secured Rehabilitative Home replaced my home. I also have a foster family, and I really appreciate them. I am extremely close to them. I feel closer to them than to my biological family. I will always remember what they have done for me.

The current theme displays the relationship between introspection, the redefinition and reinterpretation of distress factors, and the processes of transformation and resilience among adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior. The processes of introspection are complicated but, as clearly expressed by the interviewees, they are necessary for desistance from crime and, thus, the embracing of a permanent normal lifestyle.

Discussion

Most studies in the field of resilience among adolescents have focused on a repertoire of so-called objective risk factors, such as poverty, unemployment (Abelev, 2009), dropping out of school (Hardy, 2006), dysfunctional families (Hauser et al., 2006) and the divorce of parents (Vandervalk et al., 2004). The purpose of the current explorative study was to qualitatively analyze the intertwined relationships between introspection, the way adolescents at risk subjectively interpret risk and distress factors, resilience, and abstention or desistence from criminal conduct.

The research findings reveal a connection between the way adolescents at risk think about the risk and distress factors in their lives and the adoption of three behavioral strategies: (a) absolute abstention from criminal conduct; (b) desistance from delinquent behavior and adherence to a normal lifestyle; (c) initiation of criminal behavior and development of criminal careers.

The first strategy, which is de facto demonstrated and implemented by persistent normal adolescents, reflects an unambiguous and determined desire to embrace and lead a normal lifestyle and reject criminal behavior, regardless of a past of physical and mental abuse and exposure to numerous objective and subjective risk and distress factors. Further to a comprehensive and introspective examination of these distress factors and an analysis of their negative effect on their emotional and behavioral state and conduct (see also Marcia, 1980), these adolescents reach an inevitable conclusion that the best way to cope effectively with these distresses and to continue a normal lifestyle is to find positive/strengthening resources in their close environment.

The second strategy, which concerns adolescents limited to temporary delinquent behavior, illustrates a thorough and deep introspective process experienced by the participants. According to the testimonies of these adolescents, they have realized – at the peak of their criminal activity (subject to its frequency and severity) – that their lifestyles mostly include emptiness, uncertainty, boredom and insecurity, and that they actually and honestly (in their own words) ‘hit rock bottom’. Such introspective insights led them to re-analyze and re-examine their past and present life circumstances and modes of behavior and, consequently, express a genuine desire for desisting from criminal behavior. The final stage of this process was a gradual cessation from delinquent behavior and an embracing of normal conduct. This psycho-emotional process, which appears to encompass several therapeutic-rehabilitative components, supports other research findings that show a correlation between risk and distress factors, introspection and resilience and between rehabilitative-positive behavior (Bonanno, 2004; Chen, 2010; Gueta and Chen, 2015; Luecken and Gress, 2010; Marcia, 1980; Masten, 2007; Rutter, 2012; Ungar, 2011). Moreover, this method corresponds with other research findings that focus on the relationship between personal crises among adolescents and subsequent personal growth and development (Bonanno, 2004; Luecken and Gress, 2010). Specifically, personal devastation and suffering can strengthen individuals and positively change their lifestyles (Chen, 2010; Marcia, 1980).

The third strategy relates to persistent criminal adolescents. These individuals perceive the world as a violent and aggressive place, and, as a result, they adopt hostile, violent, tough and alienated behavioral patterns in order to survive (see also Ben Zvi and Haimoff-Ayali, 2015; Mersky et al., 2012). Violent neighborhoods, constant confrontations with family members, rejection by parents, and involvement in violent incidents in school represent the viciousness of the world and serve as a moral and logical basis for their persistent involvement in criminal activity. These individuals, who ‘were carried away’ and ‘lost their head’ (Ronel, 2009), underwent typical dynamic processes that had a linear connection between growing up in a hostile and violent environment and developing violent and delinquent behavior (Farrington, 2007; Hardy, 2006; Mersky et al., 2012; Moffitt, 2006).

Further to the descriptions of these group members, their introspection processes were not true and comprehensive and taking into consideration the basis of their criminal activity and its impact on their future lives. Instead, they chose to deepen their involvement in such activities, assuming that it would promote their personal well-being and cover up and delete their failures. Absurdly, such behavior strengthened their personal deterioration and descent into a world of crime.

In his Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl (1946) talked about the human ability to cope with situations of distress and disaster through obtaining and activating internal mental strength. In essence, the true meaning of human life and human existence lies in the ability to endure crises. Crises accompanied by difficulties, sadness, depression and emptiness pave the way for individuals to examine themselves and their souls and identify their authentic ‘self’ – the internal voice that sets individuals in motion and directs them in life. The findings of the current study suggest that adolescents from the temporary delinquent behavior group were subjected to such psycho-introspective dynamics: these individuals, through repeated processes of introspection, reinterpreted various distress and risk factors in their lives and began to consider them as challenging and interesting. Such perceptions and reinterpretations allowed them ultimately to adopt a new and normal course in life, which was considered by them and by society as positive and satisfactory.

It is interesting that these psycho-emotional retrospections led other participants from the same group to intensify their delinquent behavior. Similar to their counterparts, these participants themselves examined the distress and risk factors they experienced and interpreted their delinquent behavior. Nonetheless, and in contrast to their peers, they reached the conclusion that their violent and criminal conduct is positive and inevitable owing to the hostility of the world and their need to survive in it. Therefore it seems that functional and effective processes of introspection and interpretation of permanent risk and distress factors could lead adolescents to two significant yet contradictory results: desistence from or intensification of criminal behavior (Ronel and Levy-Cahana, 2011).

Moreover, and in spite of the recognition that introspection may occasionally lead to the intensification of delinquent behavior and adherence to criminal conduct, the current research reveals a positive relationship between introspection, the development of resilience, and desistance or abstention from crime (see also Farrington, 2007; Maruna, 2002; Ronel and Haimoff-Ayali, 2010). Specifically, adolescents at risk who lived stable normal lives went through authentic and thorough processes of introspection that led them to conclude, both psychologically and practically, that the distress factors in their lives may have negative and damaging effects (see also Spaeth, 2014; Vermersch, 2009) and, thus, they should be reinterpreted or overcome.

An additional central finding of this research relates to the deterministic views of some participants with respect to the distress factors in their lives. ‘Determinism’ is a viewpoint according to which every event, action, decision or thought of a human being is exclusively determined by earlier events. According to this viewpoint, the individual’s ability to choose from a number of options, when she or he reaches a decision-making point in her/his life, is an illusion, because powers that are excluded from a person’s consciousness already act to determine her/his choice (Baumeister, 2010; Shoemaker, 2010). The findings show that the participants who are ‘persistent criminals’ perceive their criminal activities as an uncontrolled result of the negative circumstances in their lives. They consider the delinquent behavioral patterns that characterize them as the accepted and ‘normal’ (and perhaps the necessary and only) ways to pass time, conquer boredom and cope with the distress factors in their lives (see also Dashora et al., 2011). These deterministic viewpoints, which may paradoxically be an outcome of processes of introspection or of limited abilities of introspection, have driven these participants to the conclusion that their personal situation and delinquent behavior arose from a harsh reality that was forced upon them and to the belief that they cannot change this state of affairs and desist from living a life of crime.

The situation of the stable normative group members is different. Although, like all research participants, they were also exposed to dysfunctional relationships with their parents, they succeeded in coping differently with the distress they experienced and in avoiding the deterministic outlook thanks to the processes of introspection. In contrast to the criminal environment of their childhood, they succeeded in developing a non-deterministic outlook, while assuming personal responsibility and choosing a life that was different from the one they had experienced in this environment.

The limitations of this exploratory study relate to the validity of the adolescents’ responses and to the small sample size. First, as mentioned, data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews. Several studies have indicated that this method could result in under- or over-reporting as well raising the issue of the credibility of the testimonies (Greer, 2000). It is therefore possible that the use of other sophisticated data-collection techniques, such as written reports about themselves, might have elicited detailed or additional data that were not obtained in this study. Secondly, the results of this research are based on interviews with 29 youngsters at risk and in distress between the ages of 18 and 24. Hence, we cannot be sure that the attitudes of the participants regarding the impact of introspection on resilience and abstention or desistence from criminal behavior truly represent the attitudes and motivation of most adolescents at risk. Furthermore, the sample is unbalanced in terms of gender. The examination of a larger sample that includes males and females may reveal more thorough and significant approaches to the relationship between the different variables.

Despite these limitations, the results of this study expand the knowledge we currently have about processes of introspection and resilience among adolescents at risk, in general, and their differential impact on abstention or desistance from criminal behavior or from the intensification of such conduct, in particular. This may provide scholars and practitioners with a better understanding of the intertwined relationships between these variables and their positive or negative effect on the behavioral patterns of adolescents at risk and, possibly, contribute to the initiation of various strategies that tend to be interventional and preventive. Such strategies, relevant to both normal adolescents at risk and criminal juveniles, might include assimilation and implementation of seminars in high schools, rehabilitative homes and juvenile prison facilities, focusing on instilling and developing introspection skills, employment of workshops concentrating on the development of introspective abilities through simulations and role-playing, and the training and guidance of pedagogic and education personnel in schools, rehabilitative homes, and juvenile prison facilities in the fields of crisis intervention and introspection.

A final note: the results of the research on introspection and resilience among adolescents at risk in Israel and in other countries are currently insufficient and they fail to address major issues. Future research is required to examine various aspects of such relationships, for example, the similarities and dissimilarities in the meanings, functions, and implications of risk factors among young men and women, correlations between numerous objective risk factors and processes of introspection among juveniles, as well as a possible connection between introspection and resilience among adolescents at risk and religion, ethnicity or type of offense.

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

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