title: The influence of school demographic factors and perceived student discrimination on delinquency trajectory in adolescence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of school demographic factors and youth's perception of discrimination on delinquency in adolescence and into young adulthood for African American, Asian, Hispanic, and white racial/ethnic groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), models testing the effect of school-related variables on delinquency trajectories were evaluated for the four racial/ethnic groups using Mplus 5.21 statistical software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results revealed that greater student ethnic diversity and perceived discrimination, but not teacher ethnic diversity, resulted in higher initial delinquency estimates at 13 years of age for all groups. However, except for African Americans, having a greater proportion of female teachers in the school decreased initial delinquency estimates. For African Americans and whites, a larger school size also increased the initial estimates. Additionally, lower social-economic status increased the initial estimates for whites, and being born in the United States increased the initial estimates for Asians and Hispanics. Finally, regardless of the initial delinquency estimate at age 13 and the effect of the school variables, all groups eventually converged to extremely low delinquency in young adulthood, at the age of 21 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Educators and public policy makers seeking to prevent and reduce delinquency can modify individual risks by modifying characteristics of the school environment. Policies that promote respect for diversity and intolerance toward discrimination, as well as training to help teachers recognize the precursors and signs of aggression and/or violence, may also facilitate a positive school environment, resulting in lower delinquency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA. thao.le@colostate.edu
authors.forename: Thao N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stockdale
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002648:Child; D003710:Demography; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012938:Social Perception; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult