Victimization and delinquency among Canadian youth.

This study examined the extent of victimization and delinquency in the past year among 962 junior and senior high school students in a large Canadian city. The incidence of having a weapon at school was also investigated. Further, relationships between victimization, delinquency, and weapon possession were explored. The prevalence of self-reported victimization was found to be high, both while the youths were at school and while not at school. Except for victimization of a sexual nature, males reported higher rates of victimization, in and out of school, than did females. In general, younger students reported higher rates of victimization at school than did older students. In addition, over half of the students reported engaging in some form of delinquent behavior within the past year. Males, as compared with females, were more likely to report engaging in a variety of delinquent behaviors. Interestingly, students in grade 9 were more likely to report delinquent behaviors than were students in other grades. Students who reported moderate/high levels of delinquency were more likely to report moderate/high levels of victimization, and students who reported no delinquency were more likely to report no victimization.

The relationship between peer, social, and school factors, and delinquency among youth.

This article examines the relationships between self-reported delinquency and peer, social, and school factors among junior and senior high school students in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, using both cross-tabulation and multiple-regression analyses. A greater number of ninth grade students were delinquent compared to students in the other grades studied. Predictably, peers' level of delinquency correlated strongly and positively with students' level of delinquency. Strong, positive correlations with delinquency also were found for students reporting high levels of involvement in sports, and high levels of involvement in commercial/entertainment activities. Multivariate analyses indicated the strongest predictor of delinquent behavior within the group of peer and social variables was peer delinquency. Within the group of school variables, the strongest predictors of delinquent behavior were how often classes were skipped and the number of times students were suspended from school. However, students' grades in school did not significantly increase the accuracy of the regression equation.