Original article
The precursors of young fatherhood and its effect on delinquency of teenage males

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(97)00211-5Get rights and content

Purpose:

To investigate the relationship of young fatherhood to delinquency, in terms of precursors and impact of becoming a father on delinquency.

Methods:

The sample consisted of 506 inner-city adolescent males from public schools who were part of a longitudinal study. The independent variables included participants' behaviors, attitudes, demographics, family, peers, and school performance. Young fathers were defined as having become fathers before age 19 years. Two measures of delinquency were used. Odds ratios were calculated, followed by two stepwise logistic regressions. For comparison with matched controls, fathers (n = 62) were matched with nonfathers on age, race, and neighborhood.

Results:

The prevalence of young fatherhood was 12.3%. Fathers were more than twice as likely to be delinquent than nonfathers. The factors related to young fatherhood were a subset of those for delinquency. In the stepwise logistic regressions, several factors were uniquely related to either delinquency or young fatherhood. Delinquency did not decrease after becoming a father. Young fathers tended to commit more covert-type delinquent acts than their controls.

Conclusions:

The results indicate that a single theory of problem behavior cannot adequately account for the association between young fatherhood and delinquency.

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  • Cited by (0)

    This report was prepared under Grant Nos. 86-JN-CX0009 and 94-Jn-CX0003 form the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Grant Nos. MH48890 and MH50778 from the National Institutes of Mental Health. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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