SELF-REPORTED DELINQUENCY AND A COMBINED DELINQUENCY SERIOUSNESS SCALE BASED ON BOYS, MOTHERS, AND TEACHERS - CONCURRENT AND PREDICTIVE-VALIDITY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND CAUCASIANS

The Pittsburgh Youth Study is a prospective longitudinal survey of thr ee samples of Pittsburgh boys (each containing about 500 boys) initial ly studied in first fourth, and seventh grades. The first two data col lection waves yielded self-reported delinquency and combined delinquen cy seriousness scores (the combined scores bared on information from b oy, mother, and teacher) for the middle sample (up to an average age o f 10.7 years) and oldest sample (up to an average age of 13.9 years). These scores were compared with records of petitions to the Allegheny County Juvenile Court for delinquency offenses before and up to six ye ars after the assessments. The area under the ROC curve was used as a measure of validity. Concurrent validity was higher than predictive va lidity. The combined scale had similar concurrent validity but greater predictive validity than the self-report scale, and the combined scal e also identified a greater number of boys as serious delinquents. Con current validity for admitting offenses was higher for Caucasians, but concurrent validity for admitting arrests was higher for African-Amer icans. There were no consistent ethnic differences in predictive valid ity. There was art increase in predictive validity, for both African-A mericans and Caucasians, by combining self-report data with informatio n from other sources. After controlling for delinquency measures, Afri can-Americans were more likely than Caucasians to be petitioned in the future, but not in the past. In this research, ethnic differences in official delinquency were partly attributable to ethnic differences in delinquent behavior and were not attributable to differential ethnic attrition or differential ethnic validity of measures of delinquent be havior.