The literature review encompassed published and unpublished studies conducted over the past 30 years. The review sought to determine the significant risk factors for each gender and whether specific risk factors are more important for one gender than the other. Findings show that the risk factors important for male delinquency are also important for female delinquency. Of the risk factors examined, the most significant are antisocial peers or attitudes, temperament or misconduct problems, educational difficulties, poor parent-child relations, and minor personality variables. In contrast, lower social class, family structure or parental problems, and personal distress are not strongly related to delinquency for either gender. These results support recent social psychological models of criminal conduct that suggest a variety of personal, interpersonal, and structural factors are related to delinquent behavior by males and females. Notions of female delinquency as exclusively symptomatic of personal distress or familial difficulties are shown to be inadequate. Suggestions for additional research are offered. 18 footnotes