National Youth Survey - Self-reported Delinquency Estimates by Sex, Race, Class and Age, 1978

• NCJ Number: 75502
• Author(s): D S Elliott; S S Ageton; D Huizinga
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 44 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH 27552; 78-JN-AX-0003
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare; US Dept of Justice
• Corporate Author: Behavioral Research Instit
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Project report number 9, revised

Annotation

This report presents statistics on self-reported delinquencies collected from a national sample of 1,725 adolescents aged 13-19 who were interviewed in early 1979 concerning their involvement in delinquent behavior during 1978.

Abstract

The National Youth Survey (NYS) is a longitudinal study of delinquency among American youth during the period 1976 through 1980. The sample participants appear to be representative of the total youth population of the United States as established by the Census Bureau. The self-reported delinquency measures used in this study included all Uniform Crime Reports Part I offenses except homicide, 60 percent of Part II offenses, and a wide range of other offenses such as delinquent lifestyles items, misdemeanors, and status offenses. All surveys were administered in a structured interview with respondents. Using this data, estimates of self-reported delinquencies on 40 offenses are first presented in tables for the total 13-19 population and then for subpopulations defined by sex, ethnic group, social class, and age. For each of these subgroups, both the proportion of youth reporting one or more offenses of each type and the mean number of offenses of each type are reported. The social class measures used in the tables is the Hollingshead index as applied to the principal wage earners in each youth's family. The sample population was 53.2 percent male and 46.8 percent female with the following racial composition: 78.9 percent white, 15.1 percent black, 4.4 percent Hispanic, and 1.6 percent other. According to the Hollingshead index, 22.7 percent of the wage earners were classified as professionals or managers with college educations, 29.5 percent were small business owners or persons in skilled occupations with some higher education, and 41.5 percent were semiskilled or unskilled workers with lower educational levels. Tables give the birth cohorts used in the NYS. The discussion of survey methodology covers weaknesses and extremes in the data base. Footnotes, tables, and a bibliography of 16 references are included.