Reading attainment and juvenile delinquency.
Structural equation modelling was used with data from a longitudinal study of child development (N = 698) to examine relationships between early reading attainment and antisocial behaviour at ages 7 and 9 years and subsequent reading and delinquent behaviour in adolescence. While reading, analysed as a continuous variable, did not directly influence later delinquency, antisocial behaviour during the early school years was strongly predictive of delinquency at age 15 years, particularly for boys, and had a detrimental effect on reading. These findings were independent of social disadvantage, and were unchanged by adjusting reading scores for IQ. Reading disability at 9 years old, however, predicted conduct disorder at age 15 in boys.
Williams
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S
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
McGee
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R
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002657:Child Development; D015897:Comorbidity; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011336:Probability; D011932:Reading; D012307:Risk Factors