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A Longitudinal Analysis of the Link Between Learning Disabilities and Juvenile Delinquency in Mexican American School‐Age Youth
Author(s) -
Katims David S.,
Yin Zeg,
Zapata Jesse T.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
juvenile and family court journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.155
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1755-6988
pISSN - 0161-7109
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6988.1997.tb00762.x
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , psychology , socioeconomic status , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , learning disability , longitudinal study , locus of control , path analysis (statistics) , peer group , clinical psychology , demography , medicine , population , sociology , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , pathology , biology
Students with Learning Disabilities (LD) are a heterogeneous group of children who share the common characteristic of school difficulty and failure. More students in American schools are identified as Learning Disabled than any other type of disability under current federal law. The present study is a longitudinal survey that was designed to (a) test four hypothesized mediating links within the School Failure Rationale connecting juvenile delinquency (JD) to LD, and (b) apply the School Failure Rationale in the context of a low Socioeconomic Status, all‐Mexican American group of youngsters ( n = 75; mean CA = 12.9; IQ = 88). A path analysis was conducted to determine significance between juvenile delinquency and the mediating variables of self‐esteem, peer delinquency, school dissatisfaction, and locus of control. Results indicate that all of the mediating variables except self‐esteem played either a direct or indirect role in self‐reported delinquency in year one or in year three of this study.