title: The relation between abuse and violent delinquency: the conversion of shame to blame in juvenile offenders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  While the relationship between abusive parenting and violent delinquency has been well established, the cognitive and emotional processes by which this occurs remain relatively unidentified. The objective of this work is to apply a conceptual model linking abusive parenting to the conversion of shame into blaming others and therefore to violent delinquency.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study of 112 adolescents (90 male; 22 female; ages 12-19 years; M=15.6; SD=1.4) who were incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility pending criminal charges, completed measures of exposure to abusive and nonabusive discipline, expressed and converted shame, and violent delinquency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings tend to confirm the conceptual model. Subjects who converted shame (i.e., low expressed shame, high blaming others) tended to have more exposure to abusive parenting and showed more violent delinquent behavior than their peers who showed expressed shame. Subjects who showed expressed shame (i.e., high expressed shame, low blaming others) showed less violent delinquency than those who showed converted shame.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abusive parenting impacts delinquency directly and indirectly through the effects of shame that is converted. Abusive parenting leads to the conversion of shame to blaming others, which in turn leads to violent delinquent behavior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For juvenile offenders, the conversion of shame into blaming others appears to contribute to pathological outcomes in relation to trauma. Translation of this work into clinical practice is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Institute for the Study of Child Development, Department of Pediatrics, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: Margaret Wolan
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002649:Child Abuse; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012539:Scapegoating; D012752:Shame; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence; D055815:Young Adult