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Title: Angels and Loners: An Examination of Abstention Processes and Abstainer Heterogeneity
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Hendrix, Joshua A.
Angels and Loners: An Examination of Abstention Processes and Abstainer Heterogeneity
Ph.D. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 2014
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Age at Menarche/First Menstruation; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Body Mass Index (BMI); Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Chores (see Housework); Delinquency/Gang Activity; Drug Use; Height; Modeling, Latent Class Analysis/Latent Transition Analysis; Neighborhood Effects; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Parenting Skills/Styles; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Risk-Taking; Volunteer Work; Work Experience

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

Although most adolescents do not frequently engage in delinquency, the majority do participate in criminal behavior at some point during their formative years. What accounts for the small minority who abstain entirely? Moffitt's (1993) life-course persistent and adolescent-limited model of offending suggests that abstention can be a function of a smaller-than-normal maturity gap, structural barriers to delinquency learning opportunities, atypical personal characteristics, or some combination of these. Although some empirical attention has been given to the atypical personal traits proposition, no research to date has examined Moffitt's abstention thesis in its entirety. A complete test requires an examination of the ways in which abstainers differ from non-abstainers, as well as from one another. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979: Children and Young Adults (n=5,003), latent trajectory analysis is presented to produce delinquency taxonomies, to evaluate key theoretical predictors of abstention, and to elaborate on the distinguishing characteristics between abstaining and non-abstaining adolescents. Following this, latent class analysis is used to examine within-group heterogeneity, highlighting unique variation in developmental traits among abstaining youths. Models predicting the odds of taxonomy membership indicate some support for each of Moffitt's abstention propositions. Additionally, results from latent class analysis confirm that not all abstainers are alike and support the notion that there are both prosocial and antisocial modes of abstention. These findings may help to clarify inconsistent findings from past studies and they are potentially informative for understanding the early precursors to delayed criminal careers.
Bibliography Citation
Hendrix, Joshua A. Angels and Loners: An Examination of Abstention Processes and Abstainer Heterogeneity. Ph.D. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 2014.