Table 1.
Construct | Indicators and Response Options |
---|---|
Demographic Characteristics | |
Age | Continuous indicator; centered at 16 in multivariate analyses. |
Female | Dummy variable for female (0/1). |
Race/Ethnicity | Dummy variables for (a) non-Hispanic White [reference], (b) Black, (c) Hispanic, (d) Asian, and (e) other (includes American Indian) races (0/1). |
Immigrant Status | Dummy variable for respondent not born in the United States (0/1). |
Urban | Dummy variable for residing in an urban area (0/1). |
Family SES | Combined scale of parent’s education and parent’s occupational level (0 to 9 [Bearman and Moody 2004]). |
Family Structure | Dummy variables for lived with (a) both biological parents [reference], (b) a single parent, (c) a step-parent, or (d) some other arrangement (0/1). |
Parental Supervision | |
Parental Autonomy | Seven-item count of whether parents let respondent make decisions (1 = yes, 0 = no) about their curfew, friends, clothing, TV, etc. |
Lying to Parents | Past year frequency of lying to parents/guardians about where respondent has been or with whom they were (range: 0 = never to 3 = 5 or more times). |
Disposition | |
Pubertal Development | Self-rated physical development compared to same–aged peers (range: –2 = “I look younger than most” to 2 = “I look older than most”). |
College Expectations | Mean of “How much do you want to go to college?” and “How likely is it that you will go to college?” (range: 0 [low] to 4 [high]). |
Marital Expectations | “What do you think the chances are that you will be married by age 25?” (range: 0 = almost no chance to 4 = almost certain). |
Violent and Delinquent Behavior | |
Violent Perpetration | Four-item count of any past year perpetration (e.g., “been in a serious fight”; range 0 to 4). |
Nonviolent Delinquency | 10-item mean rating scale of frequency of past year perpetration (e.g., vandalism, theft; range: 0 = never to 3 = 5 or more times). |
Alcohol Use | Past year frequency of alcohol use (range: 0 = never to 6 = every day or almost every day). |
Childhood Abuse | |
Physical Abuse | Dummy variable for any parent/caregiver physical abuse experienced before 6th grade/age 12 (0/1); measured at Wave III or IV. |
Sexual Abuse | Dummy variable for any parent/caregiver sexual abuse (including forced touching) experienced before 6th grade/age 12 (0/1); measured at Wave III or IV. |
Number of Interviews | Count of the number of interviews provided beyond Wave 1 (range: 0 to 3). |
Note: SES = socioeconomic status. Unless otherwise noted, all indicators are measured at Wave I. Preliminary analyses considered additional indicators that were ultimately excluded from the final models (see text for details).