| Popis: |
The present study is an investigation of the relationships between pubertal timing, peer and romantic relationships, and delinquent and risk-taking behaviour in a sample that included youth heavily involved in such behaviours. Ninety-nine youth, males and females aged 13 to 19, were recruited through public advertisements (Community Group) and community agencies who serve youth involved with the justice system (Justice Group) to participate in the study. Youth were interviewed individually to assess peer relationships, romantic relationships, delinquent behaviour and drug use, and completed questionnaires to assess pubertal development, sexual behaviour, relations with opposite-sex peers and social desirability response bias. In order to determine the relationship between pubertal timing and involvement with delinquent peers on the one hand, and the behaviours of interest on the other, standard regression analyses were conducted. It was found that pubertal timing did not account significantly for any of the variance in delinquency, drug use, or sexual behaviour scores with one minor exception. For males, both involvement with delinquent peers and pubertal timing were significant predictors of sexual behaviour variety scores, such that late pubertal timing and greater association with delinquent peers were associated with higher sexual variety scores. Gender comparisons, investigated via a series of ANCOVAs, found that males reported engaging in a greater variety of delinquent behaviours and a greater frequency of delinquent behaviours across their lifetime than did females. Males also reported an earlier age of onset of delinquent behaviour, by approximately 2 years. However, there was no gender difference in past year frequency of delinquent behaviour, nor on any of the indices of drug use and sexual behaviour. Justice Group Females reported significantly greater mean age differences (2.45 years) between their romantic partners and themselves in comparison to the three other participant groups. |
