A scoping review and bibliometric analysis on juvenile fire setting behaviour

Abstract: The purpose of this review was to examine and analyse existing scientific literature on juvenile fire setting behaviour and to provide suggestions for future research. The PRISMA (Transparent Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) framework was used to search and collect relevant literature. Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed were used for the literature searches, and 71 studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Determining the prevalence of fire setting behaviour among juveniles proved challenging primarily due to variations in research methods. However, relatively high prevalence rates, ranging from 27% to 37.5%, were found in specific samples. Juvenile fire setters appear to have a wide range of motives and risk factors, highlighting the importance of avoiding generalizations. Motives include, for instance, curiosity, revenge, boredom, and psychiatric problems. Commonly described risk factors in the reviewed studies involve family dysfunction, abuse and/or neglect and depression. The review identified gender and age differences in the behaviour and peer fire setting appeared common among juvenile fire setters. In conclusion, juvenile fire setting behaviour is a complex subject, and the group is highly diverse. Future research could focus on standardizing prevalence measurements, conducting more longitudinal studies, analysing geographic variances, examining co-occurring risk factors and motives, analysing influences of external factors and further exploring gender and age differences.