Citation

Campbell A. J. Youth Adolesc. 1987; 16(2): 167-177.

Affiliation

School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF02138918

PMID

24277321

Abstract

This study examines the correlation between family variables and delinquency (both self-reported and official) in a small sample of British teenage girls. Factor analysis of the 72-item Home Life Questionnaire (from T. H. Hirschi [1969] Causes of Delinquency, University of California Press, Berkeley) revealed a clear four-factor structure of caring and communication, discipline, pressure and mother-daughter closeness, which cumulatively accounted for 31% of the variance. Multiple regression of these factors onto self-reported delinquency indicated the maternal factor to be most powerful, explaining 25% of the variance in self-reported delinquency. Institutionalized and noninstitutionalized girls showed only chance differences in terms of the quality of their home life.

Language: en