Delinquency risk as a function of number of early onset problem behaviors

This study examined delinquency risk as a function of number of early onset problem behaviors retrospectively self-reported by a sample of middle-adol escent bays and girls. Number of earl first experiences of problem behavior s war linearly associated with increased frequency of delinquency among the predominantly White and middle-class high school students. In addition. nu mber of early onset behaviors explained a small, but significant, amount of variance in self-reported frequency of delinquency over and above that exp lained by prior delinquency and additional psychosocial variables (e.g., pe er deviance, family support). Finally, results demonstrated that the magnit ude of risk for incarceration during adolescence increased in proportion to die number of early first experiences of problem behaviors. These findings are interpreted in light of the extant literature, and implications for th e development of preventive interventions are discussed.