Self-Reported Delinquency

The Self-Reported Delinquency (Elliot, Huizinga, Heton, 1985) was used in the Pittsburgh Youth Study.

Abstract: The Self-Reported Delinquency measure (Elliot, Huizinga, Heton, 1985) was used in the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Self-report of delinquency instruments are well known and frequently used. Their advantages and disadvantages have been discussed in the literature (Huizinga and Elliott, 1986; Klien, 1988). In this measure participants describe their delinquent activities, tapping the areas of property damage, theft, assault, and substance use. For each type of delinquent act, the participant is asked whether he/she ever committed it, how many times in the past year, if others were involved, and if he/she was under the influence of alcohol or drugs while committing it. The following delinquency scales were created by taking the mean across items. The items capture whether or not the child committed certain delinquent behaviors:

  • offense-general category scales (status offenses and interpersonal violence)
  • summary scales (index offenses and general delinquency)
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. This is true for the method of scoring as calculated here, but is even more exaggerated if the second question for each item, frequency of events is used. The frequency of most delinquent behaviors are highly skewed with higher variances for offenders. If frequency of events scores are used, the analyst should be advised that there are outliers present and each item should be inspected and evaluated for them. For study of whether the student was associated with somebody else while committing the offense, or under substance influence, the analyst should refer to the individual items.

Who Completed this Measure?: select one

Cohort 1 - Administrative History

  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
  • Year 10 | grade 9 | age 15
  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18
  • Year 14 | age 19
  • Year 15 | age 20

Cohort 2 - Administrative History

  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
  • Year 10 | grade 9 | age 15
  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18
  • Year 14 | age 19
  • Year 15 | age 20

Cohort 3 - Administrative History

  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
  • Year 10 | grade 9 | age 15
  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18
  • Year 14 | age 19
  • Year 15 | age 20

Technical Reports:

Raw Dataset Name: CxAD

Scored Dataset Name: SRDySCc

Keywords:
Alcohol Use, Assault, Delinquent Behaviors, Fire Setting, Fraud, Runaways, Sexual Relations, Theft, Vandalism, Weapons

Is this Measure Available for Public Use?: No

Obtain Measure:

Delbert S. Elliott
Director
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
Institute of Behavioral Science
University of Colorado
483 UCB
1440 15th Street
Boulder, CO 80302
Tel: (303) 492-1032
Direct: (303) 735-2146
Email: delbert.elliott@colorado.edu