Participation in Leisure Activities and Involvement in Delinquency by Mexican American Adolescents

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency and substance use among American youth have become major concerns in today’s society. The various paths that adolescents may take into lives of delinquency are varied and complex. One potentially fruitful avenue for researchers to explore is adolescent use of free time and its relationship to delinquency. This study was designed to develop and validate a typology of leisure time activities using a scale developed for this study called the Adolescent Leisure Time Activity Scale (ALTAS). An additional purpose of the study was to examine the association between participation in the type of leisure activity and delinquent behavior among low socioeconomic status middle and senior high school Mexican American adolescents. The sample for the study consisted of 2,651 Mexican American adolescents. Results indicate that a higher level of involvement in delinquency was significantly associated with increased participation in unsupervised socialization with friends and less frequent participation in organized leisure and sport activities and in activities at home. Different associations of leisure activities and delinquent acts also were observed between male and female participants.