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Scaling Delinquent Careers Over Time
Author(s) -
WANDERER JULES J.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1984.tb00289.x
Subject(s) - guttman scale , juvenile delinquency , normative , psychology , scale (ratio) , construct (python library) , social psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , epistemology , geography , philosophy , cartography , programming language
Guttman scales, especially those produced from data collected over time, and the properties of Guttman scales–unidimensionality and cumulativeness–have been underutilized in the description and analysis of certain constructs in sociology that are dynamic, and of certain processes that are reversible. The Guttman scale reported here was produced from delinquency self report data gathered on 581 students at two different points in time. Two purposes are served by the scale: first, it illuminates the construct delinquent career by presenting delinquent acts over time, along a unidimensional normative gradient marked by increasing severity; and second, it operationalizes change in a student's delinquent commitment as change in that student's scale type (or scale location) .