NCJ Number
181792
Journal
Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 233-261
Editor(s)
Robert J. Bursik Jr.
Date Published
2000
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Data gathered over the course of an 18-year prospective longitudinal study of more than 1,000 New Zealand children were used to examine contextual, lifestyle, and childhood risk factors associated with young people's exposure to physical assault in late adolescence.
Abstract
Twenty-three percent of males compared to 14 percent of females reported an assault between 16 and 18 years of age. Although the prevalence and nature of young people's physical assault experiences differed in gender-specific ways, concurrent and antecedent risk factors that placed males and females at risk of physical assault were similar. Major predictors of physical assault during late adolescence included childhood measures of behavioral disturbance and parental dysfunction, in addition to measures of adolescent participation in a delinquent lifestyle (violent offending, status offending, and alcohol misuse). Results support previous research suggesting a strong link between juvenile delinquency and victimization risk, and they contribute to an understanding of the role of gender and childhood experiences in predicting later risk of physical assault. 51 references and 4 tables