The aim of this research was to establish the relationship between social support and juvenile delinquent behavior after the juvenile delinquents’ assessment of the quality of social support. The research was carried out employing a method of theoretical analysis and a descriptive-analytical survey method. A Social Support Scale (Abbey, Abramis and Caplan, 1985) and a Youth Self-Reported Delinquency and Risk Behaviors Questionnaire (Ručević, Ajduković and Šincek, 2009) were used as the research instruments.
The research sample consisted of 205 juveniles from Zenica-Doboj Canton who had at least once committed a felony or misdemeanor.
The research results suggested that juvenile delinquents receiving a higher level of social support are statistically significantly less likely to exhibit all forms of delinquent behaviors: misdemeanor and less serious forms of delinquency, undesirable normative behaviors, risky sexual behaviors, the use or abuse of psychoactive substances, violent behavior within close relationships, theft, burglary, robbery, suicidal and self-aggressive behaviors.
It was concluded that strengthening the quality of social support contributes to the prevention of juvenile delinquent behavior.
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