How Many of the Offspring Born to Teenage Fathers are Produced by Repeat Serious Delinquents?

• NCJ Number: 197703
• Journal: Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 83-98
• Author(s): Evelyn H. Wei; Rolf Loeber; Magda Stouthamer-Loeber
• Editor(s): John Gunn, Pamela J. Taylor, David Farrington, Mary McMurran
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 16 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: This is a special issue on the Pittsburgh Longitudinal Studies of Crime and Psychopathology; see NCJ-197699-702 and NCJ-197704 for additional articles.

Annotation

This study investigated the relationship between repeated serious delinquency and teenage fatherhood and the implications for prevention and intervention efforts.

Abstract

A growing body of research reports that teenage fathers, in contrast with males who do not become teenage fathers, are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior. Prior studies show that delinquents begin having sex at earlier ages and are more promiscuous. This study attempted to describe the occurrence of teenage fatherhood among repeat serious delinquents, the strength of association between repeated serious delinquency and teenage fatherhood, and explain the possible public health impact of repeated serious delinquency on teenage fatherhood among urban, adolescent males. This study focused on the oldest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study consisting of 506 males who were in 7th grade when the study began. Information on delinquent behavior was gathered using the Self-Reported Delinquency Scale, the Extended Youth Self Report (YSR), the Extended Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Extended Teacher Report Form (TRF). Participants were classified into three groups based on the delinquency seriousness classification system. Results were consistent with the findings of other studies and indicated that juvenile delinquency was significantly associated with impregnation and teenage fatherhood. In addition, moderate delinquents and minor/non-delinquents had similar rates of impregnation and teenage fatherhood. However the rate of impregnation and teenage fatherhood were twice as high among repeat serious delinquents. Thus, delinquency seriousness did not have a dose-response relationship with the likelihood of causing a pregnancy or becoming a teenage father, but repeated serious delinquency was associated with impregnation and fatherhood. Reducing fatherhood in this population is likely to have a sizeable effect on future generations. References