Cognitive ability and delinquent behavior among inner-city youth: a life-course analysis of main, mediating, and interaction effects.
Drawing on the emerging life-course paradigm in criminological theory, this study examines the relationship between cognitive ability and delinquent behavior within a sample of inner-city youth. The results indicate that net of statistical controls, cognitive ability maintains a robust inverse relationship with the likelihood of the onset of delinquency, the early onset of delinquency, and the persistence of delinquency during the 18-year period covered by the dataset. Furthermore, cognitive ability mediates the effect of concentrated disadvantage on both the onset and early onset of delinquency. Overall, the results of this study suggest that cognitive ability is an important criminogenic risk factor that has important implications for both correctional interventions and the continued development of structural and multilevel theories of crime.
McGloin
Jean Marie
JM
School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 123 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA. jeanmcgloin@hotmail.com
Pratt
Travis C
TC
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D015995:Prevalence; D014505:Urban Population