DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS OF SEX-DIFFERENCES IN DELINQUENCY AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS - A TEST OF THE SEX-INVARIANCE HYPOTHESIS

This paper addresses a developmental issue concerning longitudinal pat terns of sex differences in delinquency. Hirschi and Gottfredson argue that the age-delinquency relation is invariant across sex and that se x differences in delinquency are invariant over time as well. A combin ation of these two propositions generates a hypothesis, called here th e sex-invariance hypothesis, that sex differences in delinquency are i nvariant over developmental stages of adolescents. To test the sex-inv ariance hypothesis, nine waves of panel data collected from a represen tative urban sample of African American adolescents are analyzed. The overall findings show that sex differences in delinquency tend to vary as the subjects grow older, rather than remain constant as the invari ance thesis posits. Specifically, sex differences in delinquency peak at the age of 15 and thereafter declines with age. We also find that p arental supervision significantly explains sex differences in delinque ncy for younger adolescence, but not for older adolescence.