Delinquency and reputational orientations of adolescent at‐risk and not‐at‐risk males and females

Abstract

This research investigated differences in delinquent activities and the reputational orientations of at‐risk and not‐at‐risk male and female adolescents. Initially, we sought to establish that adolescent males and females differed in these respects. This was found to be the case: males (n = 722) scored significantly higher than females (n = 738) on seven self‐reported delinquency variables and on eight reputation enhancement variables pertaining to social deviance, non‐conforming reputation, and power/evaluation private identity. When a sample of 31 at‐risk females was subsequently pair‐wise age matched with 31 not‐at‐risk females, at‐risk females scored significantly higher on all delinquency variables other than school misdemeanors. These at‐risk females also scored significantly higher on four reputation enhancement variables relating to social deviance and non‐conformity. Given that at‐risk females did not differ from their not‐at‐risk counterparts in level of involvement in school misdemeanors, we sought to determine whether this was also the case for at‐risk and not‐at‐risk males. An age‐matched sample of 91 pairs revealed that at‐risk males reported significantly higher involvement than not‐at‐risk males in all aspects of delinquency, including school misdemeanors. They also sought a more non‐conforming reputation. To explore the relationships between delinquency and reputation enhancement, a canonical correlation analysis was performed. All findings are discussed in the light of reputation enhancement theory.

Keywords:

• sex
• adolescent
• problem behaviour
• social identity

Acknowledgement

This research was partly funded by the Australian Research Council