NCJ Number
196950
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2002 Pages: 568-591
Editor(s)
Ronald E. Vogel
Date Published
October 2002
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article investigates the impact of school and community activities on delinquency using linked individual-level and school-level data.
Abstract
The purposes of this study were to investigate the impact of school and community activities on delinquent activities and to consider whether school-level characteristics conditioned the impact of these activities on delinquent behavior. A review of previous criminological, educational, and community service research was used as the conceptual basis of this empirical analysis. The study's hypothetical basis, derived from data from the 1992 National Educational Longitudinal Study, was that school and community activities were associated with less delinquency, mediated by characteristics of individual schools. In 1992, a national sample of 11,560 students in the 12th grade in 943 schools were examined by means of a self-report measure to determine the impact of school activities and community service on delinquency. A multi-level statistical model was employed. Tables are included that show descriptive statistics and variance components, and multi-level models of delinquent behavior from the NELS study; and a figure showing the relationship between school activities and expected delinquency by race and percentage that are minority students. It was found that the impact of school activities on behavior depended on individual level and school level characteristics, with the direction of relationship between activities and delinquent behavior among African-American students depending on the racial makeup of the school. It is recommended that more research be done to determine why students at high-minority schools who are active in school and community activities are involved in more delinquency. Notes, references