Childhood conditions and youth crime: An umbrella review of risk and protective factors
Systematic review
|Published
The aim of this umbrella review was to systematically summarize research on factors that hinder or promote a good upbringing, as well as risk and protective factors for criminal behaviour among children and young people (0–24 years).
Key message
Childhood conditions refer to the circumstances under which children grow up and include both the immediate and structural conditions that influence their development, health and learning. This systematic review aimed to identify factors that promote or hinder a good upbringing, as well as protective and risk factors for criminal behaviour among children and youth.
We conducted an umbrella review. We searched for systematic reviews published in 2020 or later. Two researchers independently screened titles and abstracts, followed by relevant reviews in full text. We assessed the methodological quality of the included reviews, extracted data, and summarised the results narratively. The main findings were:
- For upbringing conditions, individual risk factors were mental health difficulties, low self-esteem, substance use, behavioural problems, parental mental health problems, family dysfunction, economic strain, and negative peer influence. Important protective factors were strong psycho-social and cognitive resources, good social competence, good school performance, parental warmth, supportive parent–child relationships, positive parenting practices, school enjoyment, strong friendships, and social support.
- For child and youth delinquency, individual-level factors such as mental health difficulties and substance use, family-related adversities, delinquent peers and socioeconomic challenges in the local environment, were linked to increased risk, whereas positive school relationships and trust in public institutions appeared to be protective factors.
Factors that seem consistently important across various developmental aspects for children and youth are the family’s socioeconomic status, the parent-child relationship, parents’ mental health, and children’s and youths’ relationships with friends and peers. The findings highlight the need for early, comprehensive and coordinated universal and targeted interventions across children’s everyday settings.
Summary
Introduction
Norwegian municipalities have a statutory responsibility to ensure good and supportive conditions for the upbringing of all children and young people. To support municipalities in developing locally adapted initiatives, several directorates provide professional guidance on comprehensive efforts to support children’s upbringing. Central to this work is up-to-date research on factors that promote positive childhood conditions and factors that increase the risk of criminal behaviour.
Objective
The aim of this umbrella review was to systematically summarize research on factors that hinder or promote a good upbringing, as well as risk and protective factors for criminal behaviour among children and young people (0–24 years). We had the following research questions:
- What are the most important factors that hinder and promote a good upbringing?
- What are the most important risk and protective factors for children and young people engaging in criminal acts?
- Which factors appear to be particularly important during different periods of childhood and adolescence?
- Which risk and protective factors are common across several different outcomes?
Methods
We conducted a review of systematic reviews (an umbrella review). The review was carried out in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines. We searched eight databases for systematic reviews published from 2020 onwards, supplemented by searches in OpenAlex. Two researchers independently screened titles and abstracts of references identified through the searches, as well as relevant full texts. We identified a considerable number of relevant reviews and therefore prioritised reviews of high or moderate methodological quality, with an emphasis on reviews with broad thematic coverage and that included longitudinal primary studies. Data from the included reviews were extracted using the AI tool Elicit and then checked by a researcher. We summarised the results narratively for each of the four research questions. In the analyses, we used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as the theoretical framework.
Results
We identified a total of 133 relevant systematic reviews published between 2020 and 2026. Of these, we prioritised data extraction from 23 reviews, of which 15 addressed upbringing conditions in general (nine had high methodological quality and six moderate quality) and eight focused specifically on crime (three had high methodological quality, three moderate quality and two low quality). Together, these reviews summarised findings from 1,035 primary studies. Our main findings were as follows:
Factors related to children’s and young people’s general upbringing conditions
At the individual level, early mental health difficulties, low self-esteem, substance use and behavioural problems were linked to a higher risk of later negative outcomes, while psychosocial and cognitive resources, social competence, and school performance were protective. At the family level, parental mental ill health, adverse life experiences, family dysfunction and economic strain were key risk factors, whereas parental warmth, supportive parent–child relationships and positive parenting practices were protective. At the level of school, neighbourhood and social networks, bullying, negative peer influence and poor school performance increased the risk of mental health difficulties and social exclusion, while school enjoyment, good friendships and social support were protective.
Factors related to child and youth delinquency
At the individual level, early trauma reactions and mental health difficulties, impulsivity, poor emotional regulation, aggressive behaviour and substance use were linked to a higher risk of criminal behaviour. At the family level, violence, abuse and neglect in the home, low family socioeconomic status, unstable and conflict-filled relationships, and poor parent–child relationships were key risk factors. At the level of school, neighbourhood and social networks, association with delinquent peers, low social cohesion and living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods increased risk. School also emerged as an important arena for both risk and protection: poor academic performance, school dropout and low school enjoyment increased risk, whereas belonging and good relationships with teachers and peers were protective. At the cultural and structural level, socioeconomic inequality, discrimination and limited access to community services increased risk, while high trust in public institutions and authorities was protective.
The importance of upbringing conditions during different periods of childhood
During pregnancy and early childhood, parental mental health, life stressors and quality of care appeared particularly important. In preschool and primary school, peer relationships became increasingly important, with bullying and social rejection having negative effects and good friendships and social belonging positive effects. In adolescence and early adulthood, school-related factors, peer environment, substance use and mental health were especially important for later outcomes, while family circumstances remained central. For crime-related risk factors, the evidence on protective factors and age-specific adversities was more limited, but early childhood adversities, school difficulties and ADHD symptoms appeared to increase risk with age.
Risk and protective factors common across several outcomes
Family and parental factors emerged particularly as central across many outcomes, with family socioeconomic circumstances, the parent–child relationship, parental mental health, parents’ traumatic experiences, and parenting and parenting practices affecting many areas of children’s and young people’s lives. Relationships with friends and peers, social cohesion and social capital, as well as the child’s or young person’s mental health, psychosocial and cognitive resources, also recurred across several outcomes. Overall, the findings suggested that conditions in children’s and young people’s everyday lives—especially within the family, school and social networks—are highly important for development, well-being and risk of crime, and that the relationships between factors are complex and interact over time.
Discussion
The evidence base in this review is relatively comprehensive and applicable, but it has important limitations. Few reviews examined how factors vary across different stages of childhood and adolescence, and most focused on one age group or one specific outcome. Many also had narrow thematic scopes and outcome measures, which may have reduced nuance. The evidence base on risk and protective factors for youth delinquency is particularly limited, with few reviews available and several being of low quality or based mainly on cross-sectional studies.
The field is also complex. Risk and protective factors interact dynamically, and the same phenomenon may function both as a contributing factor and as an outcome. Their significance depends on context, age and individual predispositions, including genetic vulnerability. Many factors also operate cumulatively and across problem areas, in interaction between the individual, family, school and society. This makes single factors difficult to isolate and underscores the need for comprehensive, multilevel interventions.
The transferability of the findings to Nordic settings is uncertain, since a large proportion of the primary studies in the reviews were conducted in the United States and other countries with different social and structural conditions from the Nordic welfare systems. At the same time, it is reasonable to assume that many underlying mechanisms are comparable. Furthermore, this umbrella review is based on how factors and outcomes were defined and operationalised in the included reviews. We did not systematically extract findings reported as non-significant or not meaningful according to the review authors, nor did we examine potential overlap between primary studies across reviews. We also did not assess confidence in the findings using GRADE or CERQual and therefore cannot state precisely the overall strength of the evidence.
Conclusion
This umbrella review shows that children’s and young people’s upbringing conditions and risk of criminal behaviour are influenced by a broad range of factors at the individual, family, school, neighbourhood and societal levels. Family and parental factors stand out as particularly central across many outcomes, while also peer relationships, school belonging, social cohesion, mental health, psychosocial and cognitive resources are important throughout childhood and adolescence. The findings also show that risk and protective factors are often the same factors, but that their significance depends on how they are expressed and how they interact with other conditions. Overall, the findings point to the need for early, comprehensive and coordinated interventions, both universal and targeted, that address the everyday settings of children and young people, particularly the family, school and social network.