COMPETENCE, DELINQUENCY, AND ATTEMPTS TO ATTAIN POSSIBLE SELVES

The impact of impulsivity, possible selves, and social and communicati on skills on delinquent involvement in inner-city high school and inca rcerated boys (aged 13-17, N = 230) was explored. Impulsivity, perceiv ed attempts to attain possible selves, and balance in possible selves were hypothesized to directly influence delinquency. Social and commun ication skills were hypothesized to influence delinquency directly and indirectly through their effects on impulsivity, balance, and attempt s to attain possible selves. These factors discriminated moderately we ll between high school and incarcerated youths. Impulsivity was an esp ecially powerful predictor of self-reported delinquency among high sch ool youths but not among incarcerated youths. The effect of other vari ables differed somewhat for different categories of delinquency (aggre ssion, theft, hooliganism, and school truancy) and between subsamples, suggesting the importance of examining the subjective meaning of each of these behaviors for the individual in his social context.