ABSTRACT
Adolescence is marked by an increased interest in the opposite sex, but linkages
between heterosexual experiences and delinquent behavior have not often been
investigated. The current study explores the degree to which variations in adolescents’
dating and sexual experiences influence later delinquent behavior. In this analysis, we
rely on two waves of structured interviews with 1021 adolescents, and explore the
influence of: a) levels of dating effort b) permissive sexual attitudes, and c) the number of
sexual partners on later self-reported delinquency. All of these indices of heterosexual
involvement are significantly related to later delinquency, even after initial level of
delinquent behavior, friends’ delinquency, and other traditional predictors were
introduced. Heterosexual involvement also predicted later associations with delinquent
friends and romantic partners, as well as self-identifying as a “partier.” These analyses
were also extended to subscales of delinquency (i.e., party deviance and criminal
involvement), which revealed links to party-oriented behaviors like substance use as well
as to more serious forms of delinquency. In addition, girls’ relative to boys’ delinquency
appears to be more strongly related to the frequency of new sexual partnerships, and the
delinquency of later romantic partners are more heavily influenced by earlier
heterosexual interests and involvement.
INTRODUCTION
While researchers have long recognized that dating and sexuality are significantly
correlated with delinquency (e.g., Hirschi 1969, Jessor and Jessor 1977), few studies have
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Convention