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Reading Attainment and Juvenile Delinquency
Author(s) -
Williams Sheila,
McGee Rob
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01733.x
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , psychology , developmental psychology , reading (process) , longitudinal study , structural equation modeling , educational attainment , statistics , mathematics , political science , law , economics , economic growth
Structural equation modelling was used with data from a longitudinal study of child development ( N = 698) to examine relationships between early reading attainment and antisocial behaviour at ages 7 and 9 years and subsequent reading and delinquent behaviour in adolescence. While reading, analysed as a continuous variable, did not directly influence later delinquency, antisocial behaviour during the early school years was strongly predictive of delinquency at age 15 years. particularly for boys, and had a detrimental effect on reading. These findings were independent of social disadvantage, and were unchanged by adjusting reading scores for IQ. Reading disability at 9 years old, however, predicted conduct disorder at age l5 in boys.