Childhood trauma strongly predicts adverse psychosocial outcomes, yet its link to youth criminal behaviour remains insufficiently explored in Malaysia. This study examines how early traumatic experiences shape the emotional, cognitive, and behavioural development of five male adolescents aged fifteen to nineteen in Sekolah Tunas Bakti Sungai Besi through an interpretative phenomenological approach. Thematic analysis revealed three key domains. First, participants reported substantial physical and emotional abuse, neglect, unstable caregiving, and unsafe home environments that contributed to emotional dysregulation, weak self-identity, and insecure attachments. Second, social and environmental pressures, including poverty, family conflict, negative peers, and high-risk neighbourhoods, emerged as major pathways connecting trauma to deviant behaviour, with early offending often driven by unmet needs, fear, distress, and the desire for acceptance. Third, criminal behaviour sometimes functioned as a coping response for adolescents who lacked emotional support, safety, and positive role models. Overall, childhood trauma exerts long term influence on adolescent behaviour, underscoring the need for early intervention among high-risk families and trauma informed, psychosocial rehabilitation. These findings carry important implications for policymakers, counsellors, psychologists, and social workers involved in child protection and juvenile crime prevention in Malaysia.
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