Sex Differences in Crime: Do Means and Within-sex Variation Have Similar Causes?

• NCJ Number: 153201
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 32 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1995) Pages: 84-100
• Author(s): D C Rowe; A T Vazsonyi; D J Flannery
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA06287
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis of male and female juvenile delinquency concludes that the average difference in delinquency between males and females may arise because males are more exposed to common causal factors than are females.

Abstract

The research used two analytical approaches to explore why the average level of delinquency is generally greater in males than in females. The first analytical approach focused on variables. Results revealed that a variable that explained more variation among individuals in delinquency also had a larger mean difference between males and females. The correlates of delinquency were also similar in males and females. The second analytical approach used individuals as the unit of analysis. Results revealed that in a structural equation model, a single latent trait could explain most of the gender differences in the manifest variables of delinquency, impulsivity, rebelliousness, and deceitfulness. Findings suggested that sex differences and individual variations in juvenile delinquency should require a single explanatory framework. Findings also weaken criminological theories that postulate strikingly different influences on male and female delinquency and strengthen theories that offer a unitary explanation of both genders' delinquency. Figures, tables, and 27 references (Author abstract modified)