Search Results

Author: Sweeten, Gary
Resulting in 11 citations.
1. Apel, Robert John
Bushway, Shawn D.
Paternoster, Raymond
Brame, Robert
Sweeten, Gary
Using State Child Labor Laws to Identify the Causal Effect of Youth Employment on Deviant Behavior and Academic Achievement
Journal of Quantitative Criminology 24,4 (December 2008): 337-362
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Keyword(s): Academic Development; Adolescent Behavior; Behavior, Antisocial; Child Labor; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Deviance; High School Dropouts; Legislation; Work Hours/Schedule

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

On the basis of prior research findings that employed youth, and especially intensively employed youth, have higher rates of delinquent behavior and lower academic achievement, scholars have called for limits on the maximum number of hours per week that teenagers are allowed to work. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to assess the claim that employment and work hours are causally related to adolescent problem behavior. We utilize a change model with age-graded child labor laws governing the number of hours per week allowed during the school year as instrumental variables. We find that these work laws lead to additional number of hours worked by youth, which then lead to increased high school dropout but decreased delinquency. Although counterintuitive, this result is consistent with existing evidence about the effect of employment on crime for adults and the impact of dropout on youth crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Quantitative Criminology is the property of Springer Science & Business Media B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Bibliography Citation
Apel, Robert John, Shawn D. Bushway, Raymond Paternoster, Robert Brame and Gary Sweeten. "Using State Child Labor Laws to Identify the Causal Effect of Youth Employment on Deviant Behavior and Academic Achievement." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 24,4 (December 2008): 337-362.
2. Apel, Robert
Sweeten, Gary
The Impact of Incarceration on Employment during the Transition to Adulthood
Social Problems 57,3 (August 2010): 448-479.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/sp.2010.57.3.448
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: University of California Press
Keyword(s): Crime; Employment; Incarceration/Jail; Transition, Adulthood; Work Histories

The research findings with respect to the relationship between incarceration and employment are consistent enough that it is tempting to conclude that incarceration causes deterioration in ex-inmates' employment prospects. Yet, causality remains tenuous for several reasons. For one, studies frequently rely on samples of nonincarcerated subjects that are not truly "at risk" of incarceration, which undermines their use as comparison samples and potentially biases estimates of the impact of incarceration on life outcomes. Additionally, even with confidence about causal identification, the field remains ignorant about the precise mechanism by which incarceration erodes employment and earnings. To address these gaps, this study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to estimate the impact of incarceration during late adolescence and early adulthood on short- and long-term employment outcomes. The subjects of interest are all individuals who are convicted of a crime for the first time, some of whom receive a sentence of incarceration following their conviction. Broad measures of legal and illegal employment are used to explore possible avenues by which incarceration affects individual work histories.
Bibliography Citation
Apel, Robert and Gary Sweeten. "The Impact of Incarceration on Employment during the Transition to Adulthood." Social Problems 57,3 (August 2010): 448-479.
3. Larson, Matthew
Sweeten, Gary
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Romantic Dissolution, Offending, and Substance Use During the Transition to Adulthood
Criminology 50,3 (August 2012): 605-636.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2012.00272.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Society of Criminology
Keyword(s): Crime; Dating; Delinquency/Gang Activity; General Strain Theory; Substance Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Recent studies have directed attention to the nature of romantic involvement and its implications for offending over the life course. However, this body of research has overlooked a defining aspect of nonmarital romantic relationships: Most come to an end. By drawing on insights from general strain theory, the age-graded theory of informal social control, and research on delinquent peer exposure, we explore the impact of romantic dissolution on offending and substance use during late adolescence and emerging adulthood. Using data from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we arrive at three general conclusions: 1) Experiencing a breakup is directly related to a range of antisocial outcomes; 2) the effect of a breakup is dependent on post-breakup relationship transitions; and 3) a breakup is associated with increases in offending and substance use among males and in substance use among females. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for the future of research on romantic involvement and crime over the life course.
Bibliography Citation
Larson, Matthew and Gary Sweeten. "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Romantic Dissolution, Offending, and Substance Use During the Transition to Adulthood." Criminology 50,3 (August 2012): 605-636.
4. Pyrooz, David Cyrus
Sweeten, Gary
Gang Membership Between Ages 5 and 17 Years in the United States
Journal of Adolescent Health 56,4 (April 2015): 414-419.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X14007563
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Delinquency/Gang Activity

Purpose: This study determined the frequency, prevalence, and turnover in gang membership between ages 5 and 17 years in the United States.

Methods: Data were from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, which is representative of youth born between 1980 and 1984. Age-specific patterns of gang joining, participation, and leaving are estimated based on youths (N=7,335) self-reported gang membership at the baseline and eight subsequent interviews, which were combined with population age estimates from the 2010 U.S. Census to produce national estimates of gang membership. Sampling variance-adjusted bounds were estimated based on assumptions about missing cases and survey design effects. Demographic and socioeconomic variables are used to compare differences between gang and nongang youth.

Results: Youth gang members were disproportionately male, black, Hispanic, from single-parent households, and families living below the poverty level. We estimated that there were 1,059,000 youth gang members in the United States in 2010 (bounds ranging from 675,000 to 1,535,000). The prevalence of youth gang membership was 2.0% (1.2%-2.8%), peaking at age 14 years at 5.0% (3.9%-6.0%). Annually, 401,000 (204,000-639,000) juveniles join gangs and 378,000 (199,000-599,000) exit gangs, with a turnover rate of 36%.

Conclusions: We discovered that significantly more people are involved with gangs than previous estimates would suggest. Clinicians and policy makers must recognize that youth gang members may not conform to popular perceptions of gang demographics. The patterns of youth gang membership observed in this study support prevention programs aimed at children before the teen years. This strategy is more likely to succeed than gang intervention or suppression strategies aimed at teens.

Bibliography Citation
Pyrooz, David Cyrus and Gary Sweeten. "Gang Membership Between Ages 5 and 17 Years in the United States." Journal of Adolescent Health 56,4 (April 2015): 414-419.
5. Sweeten, Gary
Causal Inference with Group-Based Trajectories and Propensity Score Matching: Is High School Dropout a Turning Point?
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland - College Park, 2006. DAI-A 67/03, September 2006.
Also: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1126791291&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=3959&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Educational Attainment; High School Dropouts; Life Course; Modeling; Scale Construction; Self-Reporting; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Life course criminology focuses on trajectories of deviant or criminal behavior punctuated by turning point events that redirect trajectories onto a different path. There is no consensus in the field on how to measure turning points. In this study I ask: Is high school dropout a turning point in offending trajectories? I utilize two kinds of matching methods to answer this question: matching based on semi-parametric group-based trajectory models, and propensity score matching. These methods are ideally suited to measure turning points because they explicitly model counterfactual outcomes which can be used to estimate the effect of turning point events over time.

It has been suggested that dropout is the end result of a process of disengagement from school. In order to assess the effect of the event of dropout, it is necessary to separate dropout from the processes that lead to it. The extent to which this is accomplished by matching is assessed by comparing dropouts to matched non-dropouts on numerous background characteristics. As such, it is desirable to use a wide range of measures to compare the two groups.

I use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to address this question. Delinquency is measured in two ways: a six-item variety scale and a scale based on a graded-response model. Dropout is based on self-reports of educational attainment supplemented with official transcripts provided by high schools. Because of the breadth of topics covered in this survey, it is very well-suited to matching methods. The richness of these data allows comparisons on over 300 characteristics to assess whether the assumptions of matching methods are plausible.

I find that matching based on trajectory models is unable to achieve balance in pre-dropout characteristics between dropouts and non-dropouts. Propensity score matching successfully achieves balance, but dropout effects are indistinguishable from zero. I conclude that first-time dropout betw een the ages of 16 and 18 is not a turning point in offending trajectories. Implications for life course criminology and dropout research are discussed.

Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary. Causal Inference with Group-Based Trajectories and Propensity Score Matching: Is High School Dropout a Turning Point? Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland - College Park, 2006. DAI-A 67/03, September 2006..
6. Sweeten, Gary
Scaling Criminal Offending
Journal of Quantitative Criminology 28,3 (September 2012): 533-557.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/vv66480p60522707/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Crime; Methods/Methodology; Scale Construction

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Objective: This paper reviews a century of research on creating theoretically meaningful and empirically useful scales of criminal offending and illustrates their strengths and weaknesses.

Methods: The history of scaling criminal offending is traced in a detailed literature review focusing on the issues of seriousness, unidimensionality, frequency, and additivity of offending. Modern practice in scaling criminal offending is measured using a survey of 130 articles published in five leading criminology journals over a two-year period that included a scale of individual offending as either an independent or dependent variable. Six scaling methods commonly used in contemporary criminological research are demonstrated and assessed using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979: dichotomous, frequency, weighted frequency, variety, summed category, and item response theory ‘theta’.

Results: The discipline of criminology has seen numerous scaling techniques introduced and forgotten. While no clearly superior method dominates the field today, the most commonly used scaling techniques are dichotomous and frequency scales, both of which are fraught with methodological pitfalls including sensitivity to the least serious offenses.

Conclusions: Variety scales are the preferred criminal offending scale because they are relatively easy to construct, possess high reliability and validity, and are not compromised by high frequency non-serious crime types.

Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary. "Scaling Criminal Offending ." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 28,3 (September 2012): 533-557.
7. Sweeten, Gary
School Dropout and Subsequent Offending: Distinguishing Selection from Causation
M.A. Thesis, University of Maryland - College Park, 2004. MAI 42/04, p. 1170, Aug 2004
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Behavior, Antisocial; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Dropouts; High School Dropouts; Modeling, Random Effects; School Dropouts

Past research on the relationship between school dropout and offending is inconclusive. In explaining their findings, researchers have focused on strain and control theories, and have been unable to rule out selection effects. A key advance in understanding the effect of high school dropout is disaggregation by reason for dropout. Waves one through five of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 is used to answer the question: Does dropout have a causal impact on offending? Dropouts are divided into four groups depending on reason given for dropout: personal, school, economic and other. Estimation of a random effects model indicates that dropout for school reasons and "other" reasons causes a small temporary increase in the frequency of offending whereas dropout for personal or economic reasons does not affect frequency of offending. It also shows that youths who drop out for school reasons have higher rates of offending across all five waves compared to non-dropouts.
Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary. School Dropout and Subsequent Offending: Distinguishing Selection from Causation. M.A. Thesis, University of Maryland - College Park, 2004. MAI 42/04, p. 1170, Aug 2004.
8. Sweeten, Gary
Who Will Graduate? Disruption of High School Education by Arrest and Court Involvement
Justice Quarterly 23,4 (December 2006): 462-480.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418820600985313
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
Keyword(s): Academic Development; Arrests; Behavior, Antisocial; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Deviance; Educational Attainment; High School Dropouts

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Little research has assessed the effects of juvenile justice involvement during high school on educational outcomes. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study assesses the effect of first-time arrest and court involvement during high school on educational attainment. In addition, differential effects by structural location are examined. Findings suggest support for the labeling perspective. First-time court appearance during high school increases the chances of dropping out of high school independent of involvement in delinquency. Furthermore, the effect of court appearance is particularly detrimental to less delinquent youths.
Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary. "Who Will Graduate? Disruption of High School Education by Arrest and Court Involvement." Justice Quarterly 23,4 (December 2006): 462-480.
9. Sweeten, Gary
Apel, Robert John
Incapacitation: Revisiting an Old Question with a New Method and New Data
Journal of Quantitative Criminology 23,4 (December 2007): 303-326.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/a260178u063702lx/
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Keyword(s): Crime; Incarceration/Jail; Propensity Scores

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to obtain estimates of the number of crimes avoided through incapacitation of individual offenders. Incarcerated individuals are matched to comparable non-incarcerated counterparts using propensity score matching. Propensity scores for incarceration are calculated using a wide variety of time-stable and time-varying confounding variables. We separately analyze juvenile (age 16 or 17) and adult (age 18 or 19) incapacitation effects. Our best estimate is that between 6.2 and 14.1 offenses are prevented per year of juvenile incarceration, and 4.9 to 8.4 offenses are prevented per year of adult incarceration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Quantitative Criminology is the property of Springer Science & Business Media B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary and Robert John Apel. "Incapacitation: Revisiting an Old Question with a New Method and New Data." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 23,4 (December 2007): 303-326.
10. Sweeten, Gary
Bushway, Shawn D.
Paternoster, Raymond
Does Dropping Out Of School Mean Dropping Into Delinquency?
Criminology 47,1 (February 2009): 47-91.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00139.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Society of Criminology
Keyword(s): Delinquency/Gang Activity; Dropouts; Ethnic Differences; High School Diploma; High School Dropouts; Hispanic Youth; Racial Differences; Risk-Taking

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Approximately one third of U.S. high-school freshmen do not earn their high-school diploma on time. For African-American and Hispanic students, this figure nearly reaches one half. The long-term economic consequences of dropping out of school for both the student and the larger community have been well documented. It has also been argued that school dropouts put themselves at a higher risk for delinquent and criminal behavior when they leave school. Although it seems plausible that dropping out might increase the potential for delinquent conduct, another view states that dropping out is simply the final event in a long, gradual process of disenchantment and disengagement from school. Dropouts show evidence of school failure and developmental problems years in advance. It has been argued, therefore, that the actual event of finally leaving school has no causal effect on criminal or delinquent behavior because it has been so long in coming. In this article, we examine the effect of leaving school early, and the reason for dropping out, on delinquent behavior with the use of panel data models from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort (NLSY97). Through an appeal to identity theory, we hypothesize that the effect of dropping out is not uniform but varies by the reason for leaving school, gender, and time. This conjecture receives only partial empirical support. Implications for future work in the area are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Criminology is the property of Blackwell Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary, Shawn D. Bushway and Raymond Paternoster. "Does Dropping Out Of School Mean Dropping Into Delinquency?" Criminology 47,1 (February 2009): 47-91.
11. Sweeten, Gary
Fine, Adam D.
Dynamic Risk Factors for Handgun Carrying: Are There Developmental or Sex Differences?
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology published online (11 August 2020): DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2020.1796679.
Also: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15374416.2020.1796679
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates ==> Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Drug Use; Gender Differences; Handguns, carrying or using

Permission to reprint the abstract has been denied by the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Sweeten, Gary and Adam D. Fine. "Dynamic Risk Factors for Handgun Carrying: Are There Developmental or Sex Differences?" Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology published online (11 August 2020): DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2020.1796679.