Early pubertal timing (PT) increases the risk of adolescent delinquency, whereas late development reduces this risk; however, the mechanisms explaining PT effects on delinquency remain elusive. Theoretically, the PT–delinquency relationship is as a result of changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body‐image perceptions or is a spurious reflection of early life risk factors. Using intergenerational data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a prospective sample of children followed from infancy to age 14 years in the United Kingdom (N = 11,556 parent–child pairs), we find that for both boys and girls, early PT is associated with heightened risks of delinquency, relative to on‐time puberty, whereas late PT is associated with lower risks, even after controlling for a large share of childhood confounders. Mediation test results indicate that changes in parental supervision, peer affiliations, and body‐image perceptions from ages 11 to 14 partly account for associations between off‐time PT and delinquency. Our findings are most consistent with criminological theories in which the psychosocial, familial, and peer group changes that accompany off‐time pubertal development are emphasized. Changes in peer substance use, in particular, were the primary explanatory factor for the relationships between early and late PT and delinquency, for both boys and girls.

中文翻译：

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青春期时机和青少年犯罪†

青春期早期（PT）会增加青少年犯罪的风险，而后期发育会降低这种风险。但是，解释PT对违法行为影响的机制仍然难以捉摸。从理论上讲，PT-贪婪关系是父母监督，同伴关系和身体形象感知变化的结果，或者是早期生命危险因素的虚假反映。利用千年队列研究的代际数据，对英国从婴儿期到14岁的儿童进行了前瞻性抽样调查（N = 11,556对亲子对子），我们发现，无论男女，早期PT相对于准时青春期的犯罪风险都较高，而即使是在控制较大比例的情况下，晚期PT的风险也较低。童年的混杂因素。调解测试结果表明，从11岁到14岁，父母监督，同伴关系和身体形象感知的变化部分地说明了非工作时间PT和犯罪之间的关联。我们的发现与犯罪学理论最为吻合，在犯罪学理论中，强调了伴随青春期外青春期发展的心理，家庭和同伴群体的变化。尤其是同伴物质使用的变化，是男孩和女孩早期和晚期PT与犯罪之间关系的主要解释因素。