INVOLVEMENT IN MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES AND SELF-REPORTED AGGRESSION ANDDELINQUENCY AMONG INNER-CITY TEENAGERS

Ninth grade students from an inner-city high school (n = 163) complete d self-report measures assessing their participation in meaningful act ivities, behavioral problems, and locus of control. In multivariate an alyses, Gender x Activity Level interaction effects were shown: males with higher levels of meaningful activity had significantly lower scor es on aggression and delinquent behavior subscales than males with low er levels of meaningful activity. However, this relationship was not s hown for females. Of youth who reported clinically significant levels of aggression and/or delinquency, females reported significantly highe r levels of meaningful activities than males. Gender differences in fi ndings and future research directions are discussed.