Home and Away: Comparing adolescents referred for firesetting at home and away from home

Abstract

In New Zealand, adolescents contribute to almost half of property damage caused by fire. Adolescents are reported to set fires in multiple locations including home, schools or in public places. Understandably, the risk is too high to ignore, given that these locations are highly populated areas. This is the first known study targeting adolescents referred for deliberately setting a fire at home, within a careful consideration of firesetting location as a key feature of interest. The aims of the study were to identify whether distinct subgroups could be observed based on the location of the firesetting. Data were sourced from a larger study of adolescents who had been referred to the New Zealand Fire Awareness Intervention Programme (FAIP). Of the young people referred to FAIP, 981 adolescents met the study’s exclusion criteria. The analysis was completed in two parts. Part One compared adolescents referred for firesetting at home (at-home group) and firesetting away from home (away-from-home group). The second part of the analysis compared the at-home group with those who had set a fire at a school (at-school group). Results indicated significant associations with risk factors and predictors based on the firesetting location. The at-home group was predicted by setting a fire alone; a history of misusing fire; a history of a psychiatric diagnosis; no history of offending; firesetting motivated by experimentation; and being identified as non-Māori or non-Pacific. Conversely, the away-from-home group were predicted by firesetting with peers; an offending history; firesetting motivated by peer pressure; this being their first misuse of fire; experiencing negative feelings of being scared or ashamed after the fire; and being identified as either Māori or Pacific. The at-school group showed the same associations as those observed in the away-from-home group, with the exception of reporting negative feelings – the school firesetters did not report being scared or ashamed. The study provides evidence for distinct subgroups within the adolescent firesetting population, which has largely been treated as a more homogenous group, which may mean that interventions are less appropriately targeted and less effective. Further research is needed to elucidate the subgroups and develop targeted interventions to address the specific needs of each group.