Unraveling girls' delinquency: Biological, dispositional, and contextual contributions to adolescent misbehavior.

Abstract

We examined processes linking biological and behavioral changes in different contexts during adolescence by studying an unselected cohort of New Zealand girls from childhood through adolescence when they entered either mixed-sex or all-girl secondary schools. The impact of menarcheal timing on female delinquency was moderated by the sex composition of schools; early-maturing girls in mixed-sex settings were at greatest risk for delinquency. Individual differences in delinquency were also significantly more stable among girls in mixed-sex schools than among those in all-girl schools. These contextual variations are interpreted in terms of the differential distribution of reinforcements and opportunities for delinquency. The life course is punctuated by numerous biological and social events that require individuals to organize their behavior around newly denned tasks. Puberty is among the most profound of these biosocial transitions. Thus, the onset of menarche in the adolescent girl not only signals her approaching reproductive capacity, but it also elicits new expectations from others, alters her reference group, and reorganizes her body image and sexual identity (Brooks-Gunn & Petersen, 1983; Koff, Rierdan, & Silverstone, 1978). Menarcheal onset is also associated with increases in the prevalence of norm-breaking behaviors and social deviance during the adolescent years (Stattin & Magnusson, 1990). In an effort to contribute to our understanding of the etiology of female delinquency, this article examines the processes linking biological and behavioral changes in different contexts during adolescence. Our work represents an effort to integrate an ecological approach to the study of human development, sociological perspectives on delinquency causation, and recent advances in our understanding of the role of biological maturation in adolescent social behavior. Biosocial models of adolescence highlight the hormonal and social-stimulus effects of pu

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