NCJ Number
195484
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 213-227
Date Published
2001
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study investigated whether there were differences in adolescent delinquency patterns among immigrant groups as compared to the indigenous population in Oslo, Norway.
Abstract
The author points out that comparable studies conducted to date have several methodological problems that complicate their results. One such problem is that many previous studies have not distinguished between different categories of delinquent behavior. Another common problem is that previous studies have failed to account for adolescents that have one immigrant parent and one native parent. The current study sought to round-out previous research by comparing adolescents with one immigrant parent, two immigrant parents, and two native parents. Additionally, this study utilized different measures of delinquency in order to account for prevalence and seriousness of offense. The authors compared self-reported levels of delinquency for 11,500 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 years in Oslo, Norway. The data was gathered in 1996 as part of the Oslo Youth Survey. The results of chi-square tests, one-way analyses of variance, and logistic regression showed that immigrants were under-represented in acts of minor deviance but over-represented in violent acts. Furthermore, adolescents with one immigrant parent had a higher rate of delinquency when compared to adolescents with two immigrant parents in all categories of delinquency with the exception of violent acts. The author concludes that attention to methodological issues is paramount when studying issues of delinquency in immigrant populations. Issues such as type of delinquency and parent’s country of origin should be closely attended to. References