Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
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.