- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- The interrelationship between academic performance and juvenile delinquency: an empirical analysis, 1986
- Creator:
- Lee, Elizabeth Freda
- Date of Original:
- 1986-05-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
dissertations - Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- This thesis examined the interrelationship between academic performance and juvenile delinquency based on the possible influence of social origin and school characteristics. The data was analyzed in this study at two levels: descriptive and analytical. The descriptive level of the analysis was done primarily to observe the sampled distribution of responses for all the selected variables. On the other hand, analytical procedures (correlation and regression) were utilized to measure the hypothesized relationships between social origin, academic performance, school characteristics and delinquency. The interrelationships between academic performance and the levels of delinquency as affected by social origin and school characteristics are also examined using these analytical techniques. The delinquency factors were formulated by using the following factor scaling techniques: Delinquency Level I (Driving a car without a license, Fighting). Delinquency Level II (Skipping school, Drinking alcoholic beverages); Delinquency Level III (Carried a knife/razor, Run away from home, Reckless driving, Taken over $1,000, Taken money with force, Car theft, Sold narcotics, Destroyed property over $10.00); Finally, a two-tailed t-test was conducted to measure the statistical significance of the hypotheses. The study tested the following hypotheses: 1. The level of education and caring for grades is inversely related to absenteeism. 2. The severity of delinquency is inversely related to the level of educational attainment. 3. The severity of delinquency is inversely related to caring for grades. 4. The severity of delinquency is positively related to absenteeism. 5. There is a positive relationship between academic performance and social origin characteristics. 6. There is a positive relationship between academic performance and school characteristics. 7. There is an inverse relationship between delin-quency and social origin characteristics. 8. There is an inverse relationship between delin-quency and school characteristics. 9. Academic performance plays an important role in transmitting the effect of social origin charac-teristics on delinquency. 10. Academic performance plays an important role in transmitting the effect of school characteristics on delinquency. In testing the above ten hypotheses, this study has examined delinquency at the three levels as it is affected by social origin and school characteristics. It concludes that these variables play an important role in contributing to juvenile delinquency. The study also concludes that social origin and school characteristics mediate a degree of effect on delinquency through academic performance. In addition, the academic performance characteristics may impose direct effect on delinquency. Therefore, the study concludes that the academic performance of a student can be viewed as an early warning signal for his/her future involvement in delinquent behavior.
Degree type: thesis
Degree name: Master of Arts (MA)
Department: Department of Criminal Justice Administration
Advisor: Murtuy, Komanduri S. - Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1986_lee_elizabeth_freda.pdf
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
