Trajectories of delinquent behaviour in adolescence and their covariates: relations with initial and time-averaged factors

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined individual, family, and peer covariates of distinctive trajectories of juvenile delinquency, using data from a community sample of 318 German adolescents (mean age at the first wave was 11.45 years). Latent growth mixture modelling analysis revealed four trajectory groups: high-level offenders, medium-level offenders, low-level offenders, and rare offenders. The trajectory groups were discriminated better by time-averaged covariates than by initial status covariates. High peer tolerance of deviance and low parental empathy were consistently linked to varying offending trajectories, whereas gender, low academic achievement, and low parental monitoring appeared to be trajectory-specific covariates.