NCJ Number
60369
Journal
APPLIED PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (SPRING 1978) Pages: 221-238
Date Published
1978
Length
18 pages
Annotation
AN ANALYSIS OF SELF-REPORT DELINQUENCY DATA USING FOUR NONMETRIC PROCEDURES FOR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS REVEALED SUPPORT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF A GENERAL DELINQUENCY FACTOR.
Abstract
THIS STUDY ANALYZES THE STRUCTURE OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR REPORTED IN A CONFIDENTIAL INTERVIEW SITUATION. INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH 358 MALES BETWEEN 15 AND 20 YEARS OF AGE LIVING IN BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA. A RANDOMIZED MULTIPHASE SAMPLING PROCEDURE WAS USED IN WHICH INTERVIEWERS WERE REQUIRED TO DO CALLBACKS. FOR THE DELINQUENCY PART OF THE INTERVIEW, RESPONDENTS WERE HANDED A CARD WITH QUESTIONS ON IT. THEY WERE ASKED IF THEY HAD EVER DONE VARIOUS DELINQUENT ACTIVITIES, SUCH AS DAMAGING PROPERTY, STEALING, ETC. IF THEY ANSWERED 'YES', THEY THEN WERE ASKED IF THEY HAD DONE THE ACTIVITY ONCE, TWICE, OR THREE TIMES, OR MORE. A TOTAL OF 17 ITEMS WERE INCLUDED IN THE STUDY. FOUR PROCEDURES WERE USED TO REPRESENT THE SIMILARITIES AMONG DELINQUENT RESPONDENTS, VARIABLES, AND CATEGORIES IN VERY DIFFERENT WAYS. HOMOGENEOUS CLUSTERS OF ITEMS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY SUPPORTED ACROSS THE NONMETRIC FACTOR ANALYSIS, MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING, HIERARCHICAL CLUSTER ANALYSIS, AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING, HIERARCHICAL CLUSTER ANALYSIS, AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALOGRAM ANALYSES ARE 'TRIVIAL DELINQUENCY', 'DRUG USE,' VEHICLE THEFT,' AND VANDALISM.' OTHER ITEMS DO NOT FORM INTO SPECIFIC CLUSTERS BUT TYPICALLY SHOW CONSIDERABLE SATURATION WITH THE GENERAL FACTOR. WHILE THERE IS STRONG SUPPORT FOR A GENERAL FACTOR INTERPRETATION OF DELINQUENCY, THERE IS EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT THE ITEMS CLASSIFIED AS 'TRIVIAL DELINQUENCY' AND 'DRUG USE' MAY NOT BE STRONGLY RELATED TO THIS GENERAL FACTOR. IN PARTICULAR, MODERATE DRINKING WHICH HAS ACCOUNTED FOR MUCH OF THE VARIANCE IN MANY MEASURES OF SELF-REPORTED DELINQUENCY IN THE LITERATURE, WAS USELESS IN THE PRESENT RESEARCH FOR DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN THOSE HIGH AND LOW IN GENERAL DELINQUENCY. CONSISTENT WITH THE ABOVE, THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALOGRAM ANALYSIS YIELDED THREE DISTINCT TYPES OF RESPONDENT: 'DELINQUENTS,' 'NONDELINQUENTS,' AND 'TRIVIAL OR DRINKING DELINQUENTS.' THE STUDY RESULTS STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT PEOPLE WHO ENGAGE IN A GREATER NUMBER OF DELINQUENT ACTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO ENGAGE IN THOSE ACTS MORE FREQUENTLY AND MORE LIKELY TO ENGAGE IN OFFENSES WHICH ARE MORE SERIOUS. THUS, NUMBER, FREQUENCY, AND SERIOUSNESS MAY BE PART OF THE SAME SINGLE DIMENSION REPRESENTING 'DEGREE OF DELINQUENCY.' TABULAR DATA, CHARTS, FOOTNOTES, AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (PRG)