Parental Report on Child’s Delinquency

Abstract: Parental Report on Child's Delinquency asks parents to describe their child’s delinquent activities, tapping the areas of property damage, theft, assault, and substance use. For each type of delinquent act, the parent is asked whether their child committed the act never, once, twice, three times, or four or more times. The responses are scored on this Likert scale. The following delinquency scales were created by summing the individual items (after adjusting the levels to a scale of 0 to 4 rather than 1 to 5): - 3 offense-specific scales:

  • substance abuse (pag6, pag7, pag8, pag9)
  • theft (pag10, pag12)
  • Interpersonal violence (pag11, pag16)
- 1 offense-general category scales: o status offenses(pag13, pag14, pag15) - 1 summary scales o general delinquency (pag6, pag7, pag8, pag9, pag10, pag11, pag12, pag13, pag14, pag15, pag16, pag17) The last item, pag17 (How often has your child-Purposely set fire to a house, car, or building?), was not included in any scored responses, except general delinquency, as it did not appear to be associated with any of the factors. The analyst should be cautioned that the scales are extremely skewed towards the lower part of the scale, because of the low frequency of the occurrence. In addition, it is recommended that data analysts consider the use of dichotomized items (never vs. once or more) for some analyses. Note that item pag13 (How often has your child-been suspended or expelled for bad behavior at school?) should be collapsed into three categories (never, once, more than once).

Who Completed this Measure?: Parent

Cohort 1 - Administrative History

  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18

Cohort 2 - Administrative History

  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18

Cohort 3 - Administrative History

  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18

Technical Reports:

Raw Dataset Name: PxAG

Scored Dataset Name: PCDySPc

Keywords:
Alcohol Use, Assault, Delinquent Behaviors, Fire Setting, Fraud, Runaways, School Suspension, Theft, Vandalism, Weapons

Is this Measure Available for Public Use?: Yes

Obtain Measure:
Download the measure here

SAS Code for Scale Creation:
Download the code here

Measure Items and Scales:

COHORT Cohort
TCID Child's ID Number
RESPOND Respondent Code
P11AG6 How often has your child-Drank alcohol beyond a few sips?
P11AG7 How often has your child-Been drunk in a public place?
P11AG8 How often has your child-Used illegal drugs such as heroin, crack, cocaine, or LSD?
P11AG9 How often has your child-Sold illegal drugs?
P11AG10 How often has your child-Stolen or tried to steal something worth more than $50?
P11AG11 How often has your child-Attacked someone with a weapon with the idea of seriously hurting them?
P11AG12 How often has your child-Taken some money at home that did not belong to them without asking?
P11AG13 How often has your child-Been suspended or expelled for bad behavior at school?
P11AG14 How often has your child-Been in trouble with the police for something he or she did?
P11AG15 How often has your child-Run away from home?
P11AG16 How often has your child-Carried a weapon?
P11AG17 How often has your child-Purposely set fire to a house, car, or building?
p11ag6r Recoded-How often has your child-Drank alcohol beyond a few sips?
p11ag7r Recoded-How often has your child-Been drunk in a public place?
p11ag8r Recoded-How often has your child-Used illegal drugs such as heroin, crack, cocaine, or LSD?
p11ag9r Recoded-How often has your child-Sold illegal drugs?
p11ag10r Recoded-How often has your child-Stolen or tried to steal something worth more than $50?
p11ag11r Recoded-How often has your child-Attacked someone with a weapon with the idea of seriously hurting them?
p11ag12r Recoded-How often has your child-Taken some money at home that did not belong to them without asking?
p11ag13r Recoded-How often has your child-Been suspended or expelled for bad behavior at school?
p11ag14r Recoded-How often has your child-Been in trouble with the police for something he or she did?
p11ag15r Recoded-How often has your child-Run away from home?
p11ag16r Recoded-How often has your child-Carried a weapon?
p11ag17r Recoded-How often has your child-Purposely set fire to a house, car, or building?
PCD11SUB Substance Abuse - PCD Y11
PCD11TFT Theft - PCD Y11
PCD11INT Interpersonal violence - PCD Y11
PCD11STS Status Offenses - PCD Y11
PCD11GEN General Delinquency - PCD Y11