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41 Appendix C

42 EMOTION, SELF COGNITION, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR vi List of Tables Table 1. Respondent'

s delinquent behaviour

14 Table 2. Gender difference in the prevalence of delinquent behaviour, moral reasoning, negative emotions, and self concepts…16 Table 3. Correlation table of delinquent behaviour, negative emotions, and self concepts…18 Table 4. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of the predicting effect of self cognition and negative emotions on delinquent behaviour …………...

20 Table 5. Mediation analysis of the three models which fulfilled the criteria of having three significant predicting paths…21 EMOTION, SELF COGNITION, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

1 Cognitive and Emotional Determinants of Delinquent Behaviour The problem of delinquent behaviour among young people has been a prominent issue in Hong Kong for years. Topics such as 13-years-old teenager taking drug (The Sun, 2012), the increasing phenomenon of teenage girls working as dating partners and prostitutes (Takungpao, 2012), three teenagers attempted stealing but being caught (RTHK, 2012), seven teenagers declaring oneself to be a member of Triad are under suspicion of physical assault (RTHK, 2012), and 35% of youths started gambling before the age of

18 (Hong Kong Commercial Newspaper, 2008) are widely posted on newspaper in Hong Kong. Research had been examining different risk factors or antecedent variables of delinquent behaviour for many years. Warr (1993) suggested that the peer association with delinquents in single had the strongest prediction on delinquent behaviour. And, the parenting styles with the focus of punishment or love-withdrawal were related to the children'

s delinquent behaviour (Shaw &

Scott, 1991). Also, it was found that good family relationship was associated with decreased affiliation with delinquent peer (Huey, Henggeler, Brondino, &

Pickrel, 2000). These studies supported that peer influence and parental guidance are well-known predictors on delinquent behaviour. From another point of view, however, involving in a delinquent behaviour is a personal issue and decision by the teenagers themselves. In a study of Pardini, Loeber, and Stouthamer-Loeber (2005), it was found that the increase of parent-child conflict only predicted changes in the adolescents'

beliefs about delinquent behaviour. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the development of moral reasoning and how much the teenagers internalize the moral belief as moral self, which in turn may affect the engagement of actual delinquent behaviour. Moreover, regarding the personal emotions of the delinquents, it was found that they had significantly higher level of negative EMOTION, SELF COGNITION, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

2 emotions than the control sample (Plattner, Karnik, Jo, Hall, Schallauer, Carrion, Feucht, &

Steiner, 2007). And, emotional expression was found to be not related to delinquent peer affiliation, but, emotion serves as a context to influence their adjustment indirectly (Forgatch &

Stoolmiler, 1994). Thus, it is believed that both the negative emotions and the cognitive beliefs may have effects on delinquent behaviour. In this present study, the cognitive and emotional determinants of delinquent behaviour are focused. The study aims to examine the relationships between negative emotions, self cognition and delinquent behaviour. More importantly, the effect of negative emotions and self cognitions on the delinquent behaviour are studied and to see their mediating role on delinquent behaviour. 1.2 Delinquent Behaviour Delinquency refers to those anti-social behaviours which are more serious, and the delinquent may be put under arrest when the behaviour were noticed to the police, emphasizing the importance of legal aspects of an act in a particular culture (Tolan &