NCJ Number
107157
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: (1987) Pages: 167-177
Date Published
1987
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examines the correlation between family variables and delinquency (both self-reported and official) in a small sample of British teenage girls.
Abstract
Factor analysis of the 72-item Home Life Questionnaire (from T. H. Hirschi (1969) Causes of Delinquency, University of California Press, Berkeley) revealed a clear four-factor structure of caring and communication, discipline, pressure, and mother-daughter closeness, which cumulatively accounted for 31 percent of the variance. Multiple regression of these factors onto self-reported delinquency indicated the maternal factor to be most powerful, explaining 25 percent of the variance in self-reported delinquency. Institutionalized and noninstitutionalized girls showed only chance differences in terms of the quality of their home life. (Author abstract)