Are Young People in Correctional Institutions Different from Community Students Who Have Never Been Convicted?: Differences in Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviours

Correspondence to Byoungduk Sohn, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford, Barnett House, 32 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2ER, UK. E-mail: byoungduk.sohn{at}linacre.ox.ac.uk Summary By comparing the prevalence of emotional and behaviour healthproblems among institutionalized juvenile offenders with thatamongst a non-offending sample of adolescents, this study indicatescommon characteristics of the perceived emotional and behaviouralproblems, and describes risk factors pertinent to persistentjuvenile offending. Familial backgrounds, behavioural and emotionalmeasures were collected through self-report surveys. Resultsshowed that young people in secure units claimed significanthigh levels of emotional and behavioural problems and that thoseproblems were associated with their disadvantaged familial socio-economicbackgrounds and perceived parenting factors. Various policyimplications are recommended to tackle problems amongst thesedisadvantaged young people in correctional institutions in Korea.In particular, for those working with young people in correctionalinstitutions in the UK, the findings highlight the importanceof culturally relevant programmes.