Growing Up Poor: Examining the Link Between Persistent Childhood Poverty and Delinquency

• NCJ Number: 196376
• Journal: Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 159-187
• Author(s): G. Roger Jarjoura; Ruth A. Triplett; Gregory P. Brinker
• Date Published: June 2002
• Length: 29 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The paper provides an assessment and findings of the effects of both the level of exposure to poverty and its timing on delinquent involvement, using 14 years of longitudinal data for a national sample of younger adolescents, indicating that exposure to poverty and the timing of such exposure were indeed related to an increased likelihood of involvement in delinquency.

Abstract

This study sought to improve on previous individual-level analyses throughout consideration of how poverty status should be operationalized by developing a measure of poverty that better captured the persistent poor, and examining the effects of the timing of poverty in a youth's life. It was found that the level of exposure to poverty as well as a lifetime spent in poverty by a youth had an impact on the likelihood of delinquent involvement, with persistent poverty, as opposed to short-term poverty, being related to a higher level of involvement in delinquency. Only by using longitudinal data was it possible in this study to identify persistently poor families and this method is recommended for further studies of the poverty-delinquency relationship. Tables include descriptive statistics for variables used in analyses, cross-classification of poverty status of subjects as determined cross-sectionally and longitudinally, bivariate correlations between measures of poverty, measures of delinquency, and control variables' estimates from Tobit Models of self-reported delinquency for different measure of poverty; estimates from Tobit Models of self-reported delinquency for different measures of poverty controlling for demographic and family factors; and decomposition of Tobit estimates from regression of delinquency on percent life spent in poverty. In conclusion, it is suggested that future research should include study of those living in persistent poverty in different contexts, such as being poor in a poor neighborhood as compared to being poor in a more diverse neighborhood. References