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The Relationship Between Peer, Social, and School Factors, and Delinquency Among Youth
Author(s) -
Paetsch Joanne J.,
Bertrand Lorne D.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.1997.tb06291.x
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , psychology , peer group , developmental psychology , peer influence , ninth , multivariate analysis , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , physics , acoustics
This article examines the relationships between self‐reported delinquency and peer, social, and school factors among junior and senior high school students in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, using both cross‐tabulation and multiple‐regression analyses. A greater number of ninth grade students were delinquent compared to students in the other grades studied. Predictably, peers' level of delinquency correlated strongly and positively with students' level of delinquency. Strong, positive correlations with delinquency also were found for students reporting high levels of involvement in sports, and high levels of involvement in commercial/entertainment activities. Multivariate analyses indicated the strongest predictor of delinquent behavior within the group of peer and social variables was peer delinquency. Within the group of school variables, the strongest predictors of delinquent behavior were how often classes were skipped and the number of times students were suspended from school. However, students' grades in school did not significantly increase the accuracy of the regression eqution.