NCJ Number
93357
Journal
Criminology Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1984) Pages: 83-95
Date Published
1984
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Guttman scales, especially those produced from data collected over time, and the properties of Guttman scales -unidimensionality and cumulativeness -- have been underutilized in the description and analysis of certain constructs in sociology that are dynamic, and of certain processes that are reversible.
Abstract
The Guttman scale reported here was produced from delinquency self-report data gathered on 581 students at two different points in time. Two purposes are served by the scale: first, it illuminates the construct delinquent career by presenting delinquent acts over time, along a unidimensional normative gradient marked by increasing severity; and second, it operationalizes change in a student's delinquent commitment as change in that student's scale type (or scale location). (Publisher abstract)