Do the Correlates of High-Rate Delinquency Differ From Participation in Delinquency? An Evaluation of Different Frequency of Delinquency Measures

• NCJ Number: 137486
• Author(s): C L Britt III
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The criminal career view posits that correlates of participation in, and frequency of, illegal activity may be different. Prior research is extended in this study to examine whether changing the measure of frequency of delinquency to 5 or more and 10 or more delinquent acts produces different sets of significant correlates.

Abstract

Data from the Seattle Youth Survey and the National Youth Survey models of participation and frequency of offending were tested using probit and tobit statistical models to assess whether the same set of variables that predicted participation also predicted frequency of delinquency. Six items representing demographic and social characteristics -- age, race, gender, delinquent friends, grade point average, and dating behavior -- were used to evaluate the proposed hypothesis. The results supported the hypothesis that the causes of committing one illegal act are the same as those of committing multiple illegal acts. The findings from both surveys both confirm and extend previous research that found that delinquency is predicted equally well, whether operationalized as participation or frequency, or whether frequency was operationalized as one or more or five or more delinquent acts. 6 tables and 27 references