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IQ (Intelligence Quotient): A Test of Two Competing Explanations

NCJ Number
152290
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1994) Pages: 189-239
Author(s)
D A Ward; C R Tittle
Date Published
1994
Length
51 pages
Annotation
This article examines the debate over the most valid explanation of the relationship between the recognized relationship between IQ and juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
In the past, sociologists either dismissed or ignored the well-established empirical relationship between IQ and juvenile delinquency. More recently, however, they have come to accept the IQ-juvenile delinquency connection, but now debate the most valid explanation for it. Some have advanced what the authors characterize as a "school performance" model, and others adhere to what may be called a "school reaction" model. The major disagreement between the competing models is over the school variables thought to mediate the IQ-juvenile delinquency relationship. This article specifies the most dominant versions of the competing models as well as a model that integrates the concepts of each. Using three waves of data from the Youth in Transition project, researchers first estimated parameters for each of the competing models and then parameters for the integrated model. Considered independently, each model was supported by the data; however, when each of the separate models was forced to take into account the explanatory contribution of its competitor, only the school performance model was supported. Implications of the findings for schooling and delinquency are discussed. 4 tables, 5 figures, and 53 references