NCJ Number
206030
Date Published
April 2003
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Using Canadian data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), this study examined the correlates of self-reported delinquency among youth between the ages of 12 and 15.
Abstract
Begun in 1994, the NLSCY was designed to follow a representative sample of Canadian children (newborns to 11 year-olds) into adulthood. New interview and questionnaire data are collected every 2 years. The data used in the current study were drawn from Cycle III, which was collected in 1998. During this cycle, individuals between 12 and 15 years old completed self-administered questionnaires that examined a number of aspects of their lives (e.g., friends, family, school, feelings and behaviors, delinquent behavior, health, and work). Data on each child were collected from the person most knowledgeable (PMK) about the child, the PMK's spouse, and the child's principal and teachers. Data were obtained on 31,194 children from across the 10 Provinces. A Self-Reported Delinquency Scale (SRDS) was created for this study in order to measure both the frequency and severity of the self-reported delinquent behavior. Multiple regression was used to determine the significant correlates of the SRDS as well as specific forms of delinquency, including violent offenders and drug trafficking. Partial regression analyses were also conducted for male and female delinquents. For the 12-month period prior to the survey, self-reported delinquency among the sample was approximately 39 percent. Five factors were found to be consistently related to various forms of delinquency for both male and female youth: inconsistent and inadequate parenting, a history of victimization, antisocial peer involvement, negative school attachment, and aggression. This report recommends that future research focus on the temporal relationships among variables. 10 tables, 37 references, and appended list of survey questions from the SRDS