title: Trajectories of delinquent behaviour in adolescence and their covariates: relations with initial and time-averaged factors.
abstract: This longitudinal study examined individual, family, and peer covariates of distinctive trajectories of juvenile delinquency, using data from a community sample of 318 German adolescents (mean age at the first wave was 11.45 years). Latent growth mixture modelling analysis revealed four trajectory groups: high-level offenders, medium-level offenders, low-level offenders, and rare offenders. The trajectory groups were discriminated better by time-averaged covariates than by initial status covariates. High peer tolerance of deviance and low parental empathy were consistently linked to varying offending trajectories, whereas gender, low academic achievement, and low parental monitoring appeared to be trajectory-specific covariates.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advancement of Youth Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 912 Building, 1530 3rd Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35294-1200, USA. mwiesner@uab.edu
authors.forename: Margit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wiesner
authors.forename: Rainer K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Silbereisen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012737:Sex Factors