Abstract
The research literature on juvenile delinquency shows that antisocial adolescents are often lacking in academic, interpersonal, and work skills. Past research on antisocial adolescents has focused primarily on the relationship between single skill deficits and official delinquency. The present report extends this body of literature by investigating the relationship between seven measures of skill and official and self-reported delinquency in a nonclinical sample of 70 white male adolescents. Youths classified as delinquent on the basis of prior police contact had a lower multivariate profile on seven measures of academic, interpersonal, and work skills. Five of the seven measures correlated significantly with both the official and self-reported criteria of delinquency. Academic skill deficits may be the strongest covariates of antisocial behavior.
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This report is based on work funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, MH 32857.
The authors would like to extend their gratitude to Dr. John Reid and Dr. Beverly Fagot for their constructive critiques of previous drafts of the present manuscript.
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Dishion, T.J., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M. et al. Skill deficits and male adolescent delinquency. J Abnorm Child Psychol 12, 37–53 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00913460
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00913460