NCJ Number
212811
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 43 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 3-35
Date Published
February 2006
Length
33 pages
Annotation
Using data from the Add Health study, this research examined whether puberty (biological/physical changes related to sexual and reproductive development) was linked with increased violent victimization that might be moderated by one's gender and the characteristics of one's peer network.
Abstract
The study found that among both boys and girls, puberty was significantly related to violent victimization in a longitudinal analysis, although the effect was stronger for girls. For boys, puberty had a weaker effect on violent victimization when their friendship network had a higher proportion of girls in it. For girls, the effect of puberty on victimization was not influenced by the characteristics of their network of friends. These findings were obtained from an analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Add Health data were obtained from a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in 132 randomly selected U.S. schools. Data were collected from 1995 to 1996. The sample for the current study consisted of 6,947 youth with data on pubertal development, control variables, and self-reports of victimization. Violent physical victimization within the past 12 months was the dependent variable. Independent variables were perceived pubertal development compared with same-aged peers and the characteristics of one's network of friends (i.e., the proportion of deviant, opposite-sex, and older friends). All analyses included controls for demographic factors associated with pubertal development and victimization. Survey-weighted negative binomial-regression models assessed whether puberty was linked with victimization. 4 tables, 1 figure, 19 notes, and 86 references