Adolescents’ Intentions to Engage in Criminal Activity: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach Linking Theories From Social Psychology and Criminology

The Intentions to Transgress (ITT) model was developed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the motivators of crime identified by Agnew (1995). A survey of 512 youths attending South Australian high schools or detained in a youth detention facility, allowed an empirical test of the ITT model where it was found to consistently fit the drug taking, fighting and stealing data, suggesting that transgressional attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control and negative affect are important proximal factors related to adolescents’ transgressional intentions, but that moral norms and reputation enhancement play more of a distal role.