what, according to contemporary socialization views, is the key to understanding female delinquency?

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Kid Youth Serv Rev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 Aug one.

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Are girls really becoming more runaway? Testing the gender convergence hypothesis by race and ethnicity, 1976–2005

Sara Goodkind, Ph.D., John Yard. Wallace, Jr., Ph.D., Jeffrey J. Shook, Ph.D., Jerald Bachman, Ph.D., and Patrick O'Malley, Ph.D.

Sara Goodkind

University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work and Center on Race and Social Problems

John M. Wallace, Jr.

University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work and Center on Race and Social Problems

Jeffrey J. Shook

Academy of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work and Centre on Race and Social Problems

Jerald Bachman

University of Michigan

Patrick O'Malley

University of Michigan

Abstract

Historically, girls take been less delinquent than boys. Still, increased justice system involvement among girls and current portrayals of girls in the popular media and press propose that girls' malversation, particularly their violence and drug use, is becoming more than like to that of boys. Are girls really becoming more than delinquent? To date, this question remains unresolved. Girls' increased system involvement might reflect bodily changes in their behavior or changes in justice system policies and practices. Given that girls of colour are overrepresented in the justice system, efforts to rigorously examine the gender convergence hypothesis must consider the role of race/ethnicity in girls' delinquency. This report uses self-report information from a big, nationally representative sample of youth to investigate the extent to which the magnitude of gender differences in violence and substance use varies across racial/ethnic groups and explore whether these differences take decreased over time. We find little support for the gender convergence hypothesis, considering, with a few exceptions, the data do non show increases in girls' violence or drug employ. Furthermore, even when girls' violent beliefs or drug apply has increased, the magnitude of the increment is not substantial enough to account for the dramatic increases in girls' arrests for violence and drug corruption violations.

Historically, girls have been less probable than boys to engage in delinquent behavior. Current portrayals of girls in the pop media and press, however, propose that girls' delinquency, peculiarly their violence and drug use, is on the rise. Contempo examples of these portrayals include titles such as, "Bad girls go wild" (Scelfo, 2005), Meet Jane Striking: Why Girls are Growing More Trigger-happy and What Can Be Done Near It (Garbarino, 2006) and Sugar & Spice and No Longer Nice: How Nosotros Tin can Finish Girls' Violence (Prothrow-Stith & Spivak, 2005). These and related publications suggest that girls' behavior is condign more similar to that of boys and that this convergence tin be attributed, in big office, to socialization practices that increasingly encourage girls to exist more similar boys in both positive and negative arenas of social life. Coupled with substantial increases in girls' arrests and adjudications for trigger-happy crimes and drug abuse violations over the past 25 years (Snyder & Sigmund, 2006), these works convey an image of girls' beliefs as getting worse and suggest the demand for interventions targeted toward the increasingly problematic behavior of young women.

Despite the prevalence of this image in discourses about young women, the question of whether girls are really becoming more than delinquent remains unresolved. A number of recent studies take begun to examine claims well-nigh the increasingly fierce behavior of young women (e.g., Chesney-Lind & Paramore, 2001; Steffensmeier et al., 2005). 1 of the most thorough investigations of this question examined whether the gender gap in vehement behavior was closing among American young people (Steffensmeier et al., 2005). After comparing arrest statistics with victimization data and self-reports, the authors concluded that although girls' trigger-happy behavior has not inverse, club's response to their violent behavior has changed significantly. The authors attribute the increase in girls' arrests for violent beliefs to the post-obit three factors: 1) broadening definitions of violence to include pocket-sized incidents, which girls are relatively more probable to commit; 2) "increased policing of violence amidst intimates and in private settings (for example, domicile, school) where girls' violence is more widespread" (2005, p. 355); and iii) decreased tolerance within families and in society more broadly towards adolescent girls.

Although Steffensmeier and colleagues' results advise that girls have not become more than delinquent, they note that their findings "do not negate the possibility of gender convergence in violence trends inside some population subgroups" (Steffensmeier et al., 2005, p. 392). More than specifically, their work raises the question of whether the magnitude of gender departure in delinquency varies across racial/ethnic groups, with trends in boys' and girls' delinquency being more comparable for some groups than for others. Many of the images that accompany recent books and articles have focused primarily on White girls (see, for instance, the covers of the Garbarino [2006] and Prothrow-Stith and Spivak [2005] books). Yet, girls of color, particularly African American girls, are disproportionately represented amidst those in the juvenile justice system, a trouble that has increased over time. For case, African American girls accounted for 23% of girls' delinquency cases in 1985 and 31% of such cases by 2004 (when African Americans comprised only 17% of the juvenile population; OJJDP, 2007). The overrepresentation of African American girls in the juvenile justice statistics suggests that there may be dissimilar patterns of delinquent behavior by racial/ethnic group, or that the beliefs of members of different racial/indigenous groups is handled differently by constabulary and justice system authorities.

Are at that place different patterns of runaway behavior by African American girls and boys or girls and boys of other racial/indigenous groups? Research has not yet examined the gender convergence hypothesis inside or between racial and ethnic groups. These questions are important for social workers and social service professionals considering interventions are oft shaped by how a particular problem is perceived or constructed. For instance, images of girls every bit more tearing and delinquent have, at to the lowest degree arguably, influenced the increasing tendency to arrest and adjudicate them in the justice systems. However, the mounting testify that girls are not, in fact, becoming more delinquent suggests that trends toward increasing intervention through the justice systems might be misplaced. Furthermore, perceptions and policing of criminal offense in the U.S. are racialized phenomena; yet there is niggling enquiry in this area examining gender and race simultaneously. Thus, there is a need for inquiry to examine these questions and provide rigorous empirical evidence so that interventions and programs tin exist targeted accordingly.

In an effort to advance noesis on gender differences in delinquency, the nowadays study uses large, nationally representative samples of racially and ethnically diverse American young people to examine the gender convergence hypothesis. We apply self-study information from the Monitoring the Future study to assess the magnitude of gender differences in violence and substance use, to investigate the extent to which the magnitude of gender differences in violence and substance use varies across racial/indigenous groups, and to determine whether these differences accept or accept non decreased over time.

Literature Review

A Closer Look at Arrest Data

Increases in girls' arrests for fierce offenses and drug abuse violations have been used to support the convergence hypothesis. Still, a closer examination of arrest data reveals problems with using these statistics in support of the convergence hypothesis – in large part because boys' arrests have increased then much, in many cases more than girls'. Looking first at violence, nosotros find that girls do account for a greater percent of juvenile violent offense index¹ arrests than they did in the past – up from about 10% in 1980 to 17% in 2006, a tendency which is driven largely by increased arrests of girls for aggravated assail (Snyder & Sigmund, 2006; Snyder, forthcoming). However, an exam of violent crime index arrest rate trends by gender (Figure 1) reveals that the increase in girls' arrests for violent crimes in the early on 1990s was concomitant with a much larger increment in boys' arrests during the aforementioned menses, thus exhibiting gender divergence at that time.^two Further, Figure one demonstrates that the recent convergence in girls' and boys' arrests for violent crimes reflects the fact that boys' rates of arrest have been dropping more sharply than those of girls.

Violent Crime Index Arrest Rate Trends

Data Source:National Centre Juvenile Justice. (2007). Juvenile Crime Rates by Criminal offense, Sex, and Race.

The story for unproblematic assault (which is non included in the fierce law-breaking index) is a little unlike. The information advise that girls' arrests rates increased 395% (from 130 to 513 arrests per 100,000 girls aged x–17) betwixt 1980 and 2006 (National Center for Juvenile Justice, 2007). As Figure 2 shows, girls' arrest rates for uncomplicated assault rose until 1998, so savage slightly and have recently increased again. Boys' arrest rates for simple set on peaked in 1996 and take fallen slightly since (although like those of girls, boys' arrest rates have risen slightly since 2004). Nevertheless, the absolute deviation between girls' and boys' rates remains larger now than it was during the early 1980s, because boys' rates of abort for simple set on increased much more than did those of girls from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. As Steffensmeier and colleagues (2005) noted, broadening definitions of violence have increased arrests of both boys and girls for simple set on. In add-on, as they and many others (e.g., Chesney-Lind, 2002) have suggested, increased policing of violence between intimates also accounts for the increment, especially in girls' rates. For example, domestic violence mandatory arrest policies accept led to increased arrests of girls for assault, when in the by they might take been charged with incorrigibility or not arrested at all (Chesney-Lind, 2002).

Elementary Assault Arrest Rate Trends

Data Source:National Center Juvenile Justice. (2007). Juvenile Offense Rates by Offense, Sex, and Race.

Similarly, although girls' drug abuse violation arrests have increased over time, the data reveal more than of a gender divergence than convergence, particularly in the 1990s when boys' arrests increased much more those of girls (see Figure 3). The modest gender convergence in the past ten years results largely from the decline in boys' arrests, while girls' arrests over this period take remained stable (come across Snyder & Sigmund, 2006; National Center for Juvenile Justice, 2007).

Drug Abuse Violation Arrest Rate Trends

Data Source:National Center Juvenile Justice. (2007). Juvenile Offense Rates by Law-breaking, Sex activity, and Race.

In sum, arrest data show that while girls are being arrested more than often today than they were 25 years ago for violence and drug abuse violations, so are boys. Thus, even arrest data reveal very petty convergence in the beliefs of girls and boys, although they exercise advise that perhaps both girls and boys have get more delinquent. However, as discussed in the next section, there are other plausible explanations for the increases in girls' (and boys') arrests.

Theoretical Explanations for Increased Arrests

In light of the relative absenteeism of gender convergence in arrests for violence and substance abuse, why is there the public perception that, relative to boys, girls accept go more runaway? Luke (2008) cites 2 main explanations ofttimes proffered for conclusions that girls' violence (and possibly other delinquent beliefs) has increased: 1) U.Southward. society has get increasingly violent; and, 2) feminism has brought greater freedom to girls and women, which has enabled them to participate in the "male person" domains of violence and criminal offense. There is trivial empirical prove to back up the former claim, despite the fact that both girls' and boys' arrests for assault have increased. In fact, the National Crime Victimization Survey shows a dramatic decrease in violence over the last several decades, equally rates of violent victimization in the general population have fallen from just under 50 per 1,000 to approximately 20 per 1,000 from 1973 to 2005 (Catalano, 2006; Rand, Lynch, & Cantor, 1997). Most of this decrease has occurred over the concluding decade when rates of trigger-happy victimization amid youth aged 12–xix decreased by more than 50%.³ The latter explanation – that the increment in girls' violence is a result of feminism – has been addressed in the literature, which has mostly concluded that the liberation theory of malversation and crime (as it is sometimes called) stems from a backlash confronting feminism rather than from empirical prove to back up it (Carrington, 2006; Smart, 1976; Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996).

The current conventional wisdom represents a more nuanced form of liberation theory as an caption for girls' increased violence. For example, both Garbarino (2006) and Prothrow-Stith and Spivak (2005) debate that girls are being socialized more like boys (for example increasingly participating in rough, physical sports), which and then leads to their increased delinquency. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence suggests that girls' violence overall is not on the rising (come across, e.g., Steffensmeier et al., 2005; although, every bit previously noted, there has been no wide empirical examination of trends in girls' violence and delinquency past race/ethnicity).

So what can we brand of portrayals of girls equally increasingly runaway? Many of those portraying girls this way are trying to empathize girls' increased arrests and involvement with the justice system. Unfortunately, most take a normative perspective, accepting the fact of increased arrests and organization interest every bit prove of a change in behavior, and so trying to notice explanations for this behavioral change. Alternatively, a constructivist arroyo takes a footstep back and examines what the normative approach takes as given, that girls' behavior has, in fact, changed. Such an approach asks whether the increment in arrests and justice system involvement amidst girls is a reflection of actual changes in girls' behavior or of changes in how gild responds to girls' behavior. Self-reports do non completely resolve this effect, considering, as we discuss later on, social norms nearly the desirability of answering certain questions about vehement behavior may take changed; nevertheless, self-reports do provide a way effectually the sole reliance on arrest information, which can be driven by changes in policing and reporting practices.

Similarly, the constructivist perspective is useful for considering racial/ethnic differences in justice system involvement. In other words, girls of colour may actually be more than likely than White girls to be vehement and utilize substances, or their behavior may not exist that unlike but they may simply be more than likely to exist arrested and adjudicated for these behaviors. Thus, a constructivist perspective necessitates that nosotros think critically about the overrepresentation of girls of color in the justice system. Equally noted previously, media portrayals of the recent concern with the supposed increase in violence and delinquency of girls often feature images of White girls, thus suggesting that the story is non just i of gender, but rather of the complicated ways that gender and race interact. Luke (2008) argues that "the gendered partition of violent beliefs has been more than rigidly enforced among white girls than amongst girls of color. …Black girls in the United States…have been constructed by mainstream club as non actually girls" (p. 45). Thus, mainstream gendered expectations are not threatened by African American girls' involvement with the justice organization, equally behaving in "masculine" ways is a function of dominant cultural constructions of African American girls (Collins, 1998). Withal, rise rates of system involvement among White girls present a challenge to normative ideas nearly gender and gendered beliefs, based on cultural constructions of White girls equally gentle and passive. Contempo concern with girls' behavior, by featuring pictures of White girls, suggests that White girls' delinquency, in particular, is on the rise and that for immature people of other racial/indigenous groups there may already have been a greater gender convergence in delinquent beliefs. In this study, we examine these suppositions empirically, testing the gender convergence hypothesis by race/ethnicity.

Methods

This written report examines the gender convergence hypothesis and explores possible explanations for the increase in girls' arrests for violence and drug abuse violations using self-report data to examine patterns and trends of delinquency amidst America's increasingly racially and ethnically various population. Our analyses reverberate this diversity by comparing girls and boys by racial/ethnic subgroup, including African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Whites.

Sample

The data for this investigation were drawn from the University of Michigan'due south Monitoring the Hereafter study. The written report design and methods are summarized briefly hither; a detailed description is available elsewhere (see Bachman, Johnston, O'Malley, & Schulenberg, 2006; Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2006). Monitoring the Future uses a multi-stage sampling procedure to obtain nationally representative samples of 8^thursday, 10^thursday, and 12^thursday graders from the 48 face-to-face states. Stage one is the selection of geographic region; stage two is the option of specific schools – approximately 420 each year; and phase three is the selection of students inside each school. This sampling strategy has been used to collect data annually from high school seniors since 1975 and from 8^th and ten^th graders since 1991. Sample weights are assigned to each student to take into account differential probabilities of pick. In order to examine changes over the greatest menses of time, data are shown for 12^thursday graders.⁴

Students' data are collected via self-completed machine-readable questionnaires, usually administered during normal class periods. Questionnaire response rates average 86%. Absence on the mean solar day of data drove was the primary reason that students were missed; information technology is estimated that less than 1 percent of students refused to complete the questionnaire. Multiple questionnaire forms, randomly distributed inside classrooms, are used to allow for greater content coverage. The questions nearly substance apply are on all forms, but the questions on tearing behavior are included in only one of four forms in 8^thursday and 10^th grades and one of five or half dozen forms in 12^th grade.

Monitoring the Future was designed to provide data representative of the nation as a whole, not data on racial/ethnic or gender differences. Accordingly, no special effort was made to over-sample students in whatsoever of the subgroups. Because a number of the racial/ethnic subgroups examined here are a relatively pocket-size proportion of the total population, their numbers in the annual samples are also relatively small. Therefore, in an effort to increase the numbers of cases for analysis, nosotros combined data into six v-twelvemonth intervals from 1976 to 2005. Thus, current prevalence figures include information from 2001 to 2005, and trend analyses include data from 1976–1980, 1981–1985, 1986–1990, 1991–95, 1996–2000, and 2001–2005. The combined samples include information from approximately 59,653 12^th graders for the most recent data period. Table 1 presents the numbers by gender and race/ethnicity for the 2001–2005 period combined.^five

Tabular array 1

Approximate Weighted Ns past Gender and Race/ethnicity (2001–2005 combined)

Race/ethnicity	Girls	Boys	Total
White	22,646	19,431	42,077
African American	four,286	2,701	6,987
Hispanic	3,995	3,265	7,260
Asian American	1,502	1,273	2,775
Native American	288	266	554
Total	32,717	26,936	59,653

Measures

Race/ethnicity is measured past the following question: "How practise y'all depict yourself?" The various response categories are used to provide the following categorization in analyses: 1 = White or Caucasian, ii = Black or African American, 3 = Hispanic, 4 = Asian American, and v = Native American.^half-dozen The gender measure is worded, "What is your sex?" with response categories one = male, 2 = female.

We employ two measures of violent behavior.^vii The first, which we call "fighting," includes dichotomized responses to the question, "During the last 12 months, how often have you gotten into a serious fight at school or at work?" The second, which nosotros refer to as "injuring someone," is based on the following question, "During the last 12 months, how oftentimes have you hurt someone badly enough to need bandages or a doctor?" In the results section we present data on the percentage of students who report that they have had one or more serious fights in the concluding twelvemonth and the percent who report that they take hurt someone badly plenty to need medical attention in the final twelvemonth.

Nosotros also use two measures of substance use. The get-go focuses on the use of alcohol, and included dichotomized responses to the following question: "On how many occasions take you lot had alcoholic beverages to drink – more than just a few sips – during the last xxx days?" The 2d assesses the employ of marijuana with dichotomized responses to the question, "On how many occasions (if any) have you used marijuana (weed, pot) or hashish (hash, hash oil) during the last 12 months?" The analyses present information on the pct of students who report that they have used alcohol in the last 30 days and who have used marijuana in the last 12 months.

Assay Strategy

We first examine gender differences in violence and substance use by comparing the electric current prevalence (2001–2005 information combined), for girls and boys past race/ethnicity, presenting the ratio of the gender difference to gauge the extent to which the magnitude of the gender gap varies across the racial/ethnic subgroups (see Table 2). Next, we present trend data on the gender differences in violence and substance use from 1976 to 2005, to examine explicitly the gender convergence hypothesis, by race/ethnicity.

Table ii

Prevalence of Fighting, Injuring Someone, Booze Use, and Marijuana Apply by Gender and Race/ethnicity (2001–2005 combined)

	Fighting			Injuring Someone			Booze Utilize			Marijuana Use
Race/ethnicity	Boys	Girls	Ratio	Boys	Girls	Ratio	Boys	Girls	Ratio	Boys	Girls	Ratio
White	14.6	nine.3	1.6	17.ii	iv.six	3.7	56.1	49.8	1.i	40.1	35.ane	1.1
African American	21.nine	15.9	ane.four	24.4	ix.seven	2.5	35.1	25.five	1.4	35.0	21.0	1.vii
Hispanic	25.1	11.eight	2.one	20.4	7.6	2.vii	48.8	42.6	1.one	35.7	27.vii	i.three
Asian American	14.8	5.viii	two.6	13.8	two.7	v.1	34.8	27.3	1.3	23.iv	xv.7	ane.5
Native American	21.2	iii.5	6.one	28.9	5.8	5.0	49.0	43.5	1.1	45.0	38.6	ane.2

Results

Current Prevalence

Violence

Table 2 presents the electric current prevalence of the selected measures of delinquent behavior. Looking get-go at fighting, boys are generally more likely than girls to study engaging in fighting, both in the overall sample and within each racial and ethnic subgroup.⁸ However, African American girls are about as likely to report fighting every bit White or Asian American boys. The 3rd column of data for each of the delinquency measures is the ratio of girls' to boys' involvement in each of the behaviors. These ratios provide some sense of the relative magnitude of the gender difference inside and between the racial/ethnic subgroups. The closer the ratios are to a value of one, the more similar boys' and girls' beliefs, and the further the value is from one, the larger the gender gap. Gender differences are larger among Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American youth than among African American and White youth. This, in part, reflects dissimilar racial/indigenous patterns, past gender, in that among girls, the highest rates of fighting are reported by African Americans, followed by Hispanics, Whites, and so by Asian Americans and Native Americans. Among boys, however, the highest rates of fighting are reported past Hispanics and African Americans, followed by Native Americans, Whites, and Asian Americans.

The results are somewhat dissimilar when we plow to the current prevalence of injuring someone. Most hitting, perhaps, is the magnitude of gender deviation, which is generally much more than pronounced for injuring someone than for fighting. For boys, rates of fighting and injuring someone by racial/ethnic group are very similar, (e.g., xv% of White boys report fighting and 17% written report injuring someone). In fact, White, African American, and Native American boys written report higher rates of injuring someone than of fighting.⁹ For girls, even so, the results are quite dissimilar. With the exception of Native American girls, girls report injuring someone at rates significantly lower than they report engaging in fighting, which helps to explicate the greater magnitude of gender differences found for injuring someone.

Further, it should be noted that the rates of injuring someone for every grouping of boys are college than for any group of girls, whereas African American girls reported fighting at rates like to those of White or Asian American boys. Racial/ethnic patterns are more similar for the ii genders with regard to injuring someone, except that Native American girls seem less probable than African American or Hispanic girls to report injuring someone, whereas Native American boys seem the nigh likely of any group of boys to report having done and so.¹⁰ We encounter the least gender difference in self-reports of injuring someone among African American and Hispanic youth, followed by White, Native American, and Asian American youth.

Substance use

With regard to substance utilise, the results are quite different. In terms of alcohol use, nosotros see relatively niggling gender departure, both overall and by racial/ethnic group, with girls in each group reporting alcohol apply at levels only below those of boys (with the largest gender differences for African American and Asian American youth). At that place is greater variation by race/ethnicity, with Whites reporting the highest levels of alcohol utilize, followed past Native Americans and Hispanics, and then past Asian Americans and African Americans.^eleven Thus, White girls appoint in alcohol use at rates equal to or higher than those of whatsoever grouping of boys (with the exception of White boys), while African American and Asian American girls accept the lowest rates of alcohol utilize of whatsoever grouping included here.

Similarly, for marijuana apply, at that place is relatively trivial gender divergence, with girls' rates generally existence slightly lower than those of boys in their racial/ethnic group and the greatest gender departure reported by African Americans (followed by Asian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Whites). In this case, Native Americans and Whites study the highest levels of marijuana use, followed by Hispanics and African Americans, and then by Asian Americans. Notably, White girls apply marijuana at rates similar to those of African American and Hispanic boys, and higher than those of African American, Hispanic, or Asian American girls.

Thus, in terms of current behaviors, we observe the greatest gender divergence in measures of violence, specifically for injuring someone and with regard to fighting to a somewhat lesser extent. Rates of substance use differ by gender to a much lesser extent, with some significant differences past race/ethnicity. While African American youth show the greatest gender convergence of whatever racial/indigenous grouping in measures of violence, they are the most divergent in measures of substance use.

Trends over Time

Violence

The post-obit set of figures allows usa to examine gender convergence over time. Figure iv presents gender comparisons over time in rates of fighting.¹² The outset point to note is that White girls' reported rates of fighting in the most recent menstruation are most exactly the same as they were during the period of 1976–1980. White boys' current rates of fighting, however, are actually lower in the most recent catamenia than they were in 1976–1980. Both rates did increase somewhat betwixt 1976–80 and 1986–90, but have been dropping since. Thus, we tin conclude that the gender convergence nosotros find between White girls and boys is due to a decrease in boys' rates of fighting rather than an increment in those of girls.

Fighting at schoolhouse or work, trends over fourth dimension (1976–2005)

The results are a footling dissimilar, however, for African American youth. Rates of fighting for both African American girls and boys have increased somewhat over this menstruation, although the increases occurred mainly between 1976–80 and 1991–95, with boys' rates decreasing since and so and girls' rates decreasing and then increasing. Notably, the gender differential has not changed much over fourth dimension, although the fact that, in the nearly contempo menstruum, boys' rates have decreased and those of girls gone up does demonstrate a slight convergence.

For Hispanic youth, there was a slight gender convergence in rates of fighting during the belatedly 1980s and early 1990s, due primarily to an increment in girls' rates. However, girls' rates have since decreased, nigh returning to their levels in the belatedly 1970s and early on 1980s and boys' rates have remained relatively unchanged. Thus, the past 10 years have demonstrated a gender departure for Hispanic youth. The results for Asian American youth are like – a gender convergence in the late 1980s and early on 1990s, and so a divergence in the tardily 1990s as girls' rates decreased and those of boys went up, with a slight leveling off of this tendency in the well-nigh recent time period. Most notable is the fact that although Asian American girls' rates of fighting increased in the late 1980s, they have since returned to approximately the same rates every bit reported by Asian American girls in the late 1970s. Finally, when we look at the patterns for Native American youth, the almost striking finding is that the rates for both girls and boys have recently decreased dramatically. While we interpret these findings with circumspection, due to the small-scale number of Native American youth sampled, the gender convergence of the early on 1990s has since abated due to a dramatic decrease in fighting amongst girls (and somewhat smaller one among boys).

Turning to trends over time in reports of injuring someone (Figure 5), until the nigh recent time catamenia there is little gender convergence amongst White youth, as both girls' and boys' rates were increasing gradually. However, recently there has been a slight gender convergence. This is due both to a steady increment in White girls' rates of injuring someone and to a subtract in boys' rates in the virtually recent time catamenia. African American girls' rates of injuring someone have also increased steadily over the by 30 years, while those of African American boys rose in the late 1980s and early 1990s only have since decreased somewhat. Overall, though, there is no gender convergence, as the increase in boys' rates was so much larger than that of girls, leaving the current rates further autonomously now than they were in the late 1970s.

Injuring someone badly, trends over time (1976–2005)

The results for Hispanic youth are similar, in that we see a relatively steady increase for girls' rates of injuring someone over time, merely no gender convergence because boys' rates take generally been rising too. Interestingly, Asian American girls' rates of injuring someone take really gone down over time, with boys' rates remaining relatively stable (except for an dissonant driblet in the early 1980s). Once once more, at that place is no gender convergence. There is no gender convergence for Native American youth either, at least when you lot look at the most contempo time flow. Native American girls' rates initially were going downwards, then increased in the 1990s (at which indicate in that location was some gender convergence), but have since dropped dramatically (demonstrating a gender divergence), while boys' rates have remained relatively stable.

Substance use

As Figure 6 demonstrates, alcohol use has gone down for all groups of youth over the past 30 years. Virtually striking is the within racial/indigenous group gender similarity in patterns. There has been no gender convergence amidst White youth, but a slight gender convergence among African American youth due to the fact that African American boys' rates accept decreased more than dramatically than those of girls. The story for Hispanic youth is similar, in that in that location is a recent gender convergence, but that it is due to a neat decrease in boys' alcohol use and not to whatever increase on the part of girls. Rates of alcohol utilise reached a low point for Asian American youth in the early 1990s, with footling change thereafter. Again, the most interesting finding is the similarity between the patterns of girls and boys, with no real gender convergence. Native American youths' rates of alcohol use do demonstrate some gender convergence, but, over again, this is only because boys' rates have gone downwardly more quickly than those of girls.

Alcohol utilise, trends over time (1976–2005)

Trends over fourth dimension in marijuana apply look a picayune dissimilar than those for booze use, as seen in Figure 7. In general, they reached a low point for all groups in the early 1990s, increased somewhat in the late 1990s (never returning to the high rates of the late 1970s), and decreased slightly in the near recent time period. Once more, the most notable finding is the within racial/ethnic group gender similarity in patterns. In that location is no gender convergence for Whites or African Americans. There is, perhaps, a small gender convergence among Hispanic youth in the about recent time menstruum, only this, once again, is due to a greater decrease in boys' rates of marijuana apply. The story of Asian American youth is really 1 of slight gender deviation in the past 10 years, mainly considering boys' rates increased more than those of girls in the tardily 1990s. Finally, Native American girls and boys demonstrate the most similarity in rates of marijuana use of any racial/ethnic group. Girls' rates actually surpassed those of boys in the late 1990s, but, in the most recent fourth dimension period, girls' rates dropped while those of boys increased, demonstrating a slight gender difference.

Marijuana use, trends over fourth dimension (1976–2005)

Give-and-take

The goal of this article was to assess whether self reports of fierce beliefs and substance corruption amid American youth demonstrate gender convergence over time and to investigate variations in these patterns among girls and boys of different racial and ethnic groups. While limited with regard to the extent of questions on delinquency and the depth of understanding that these questions allow about why youth engage in these behaviors, the data used for these analyses have a number of important strengths. Because they are nerveless from large, nationally representative samples that measure youth behavior over a 30-year menstruation, they allow us to examine variations in gender convergence in multiple racial/ethnic groups over an extensive time period, to develop a number of key conclusions regarding the extent to which the delinquent behavior of girls and boys has converged over time, and to identify several key questions that require additional exploration and inquiry.

Overall, our findings yield lilliputian support for the gender convergence hypothesis, because, with a few exceptions, the data practice not evidence increases in girls' violence or drug use. When there is gender convergence, it is well-nigh ever due to a subtract (or greater decrease) in boys' violence or drug use, rather than to an increase in that of girls. At that place are two exceptions, however, where gender convergence might exist due, at least in role, to an increase on the office of girls – fighting for African Americans and injuring someone for Whites. That self-reported rates of fighting have gone upward for African American girls, and not for girls of any other racial/ethnic group, is a miracle in demand of farther exploration. Strikingly, it runs counter to the media depictions of girls' supposed increase in violence, which frequently feature White girls. Why African American girls might exist increasingly likely to be involved in fights is a question with many possible answers. The liberation theory, as well referred to equally the gender equality theory, does not seem to apply; information technology focuses more on White girls, considering, as previously discussed, "doing masculinity" does not violate gendered expectations of African American girls. Instead, what some have termed the gender inequality theory of crime and delinquency may exist instructive (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996). The gender inequality theory is based on bear witness that discrimination and poverty are associated with malversation and crime in the general population, too as on the fact that girls' and women's delinquency and offense are often responses to their economic marginality and victimization and a upshot of criminalization of their survival strategies (Chesney-Lind, 1989; Richie, 1995; Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996).

While most girls' rates of fighting take not changed (with the exception of that of African Americans, previously discussed), rates of injuring someone for White, African American, and Hispanic girls have all gone upwardly. Why is this and so? It could be a reflection of an bodily change in behavior, or information technology could exist the result of increased willingness or even desire to brand a merits well-nigh hurting someone badly – a much more subjective measure than that of engaging in a fight. It is here that the constructivist approach once over again becomes relevant. Girls may actually exist more likely to injure someone, but, especially given that just African American girls report being more likely to engage in fighting, it is plausible that girls are simply more likely to claim to have injured someone. This could exist because in the past girls were unwilling to challenge internalized gender expectations by acknowledging having injured someone, or because it has become increasingly desirable to be able to make such a merits. The latter explanation is supported by glorified portrayals of girls and women in movies and on television equally increasingly violent, but all the same sexy – e.g., Lara Croft tomb raider, Charlie's Angels, etc. This unanswered question – as to whether the increase in girls' self-reports of injuring someone reflects an actual increase in their violence or an increased willingness or want to make such a claim – suggests that self-reports may not be perfect measures of young people'due south behavior; it may exist socially desirable to reply sure questions in specific ways – and that social desirability may await unlike at different times and in unlike contexts.

Even so, we cannot dismiss the possibility that White, African American, and Hispanic girls have become more than likely to injure someone. Why, though, the media focus on White girls if, according to cocky-reports, only African American girls' rates of fighting take increased and reported rates of injuring someone have increased for White, African American, and Hispanic girls? Possibly this is a reflection of White girls' increased willingness to deport (or report behaving) in means traditionally associated with girls of color (e.k., injuring someone). Thus, as Luke (2008) argues, anxiety over girls' violence and malversation "is not solely an anxiety about blurring and shifting gender norms. Information technology is also an anxiety most blurring and shifting racial norms" (p. 45). Given these fears well-nigh blurring gender and racial norms, information technology makes sense that fifty-fifty slight growth in what has obviously become a very newsworthy event – serious violence committed by White girls – might prompt a disproportionate response. Qualitative research, including interviews and ethnographic studies of girls of varying racial/ethnic groups and social locations, is needed to begin to sort out these lingering questions.

In spite of its strengths, the analyses presented here take a number of limitations. Our use of data from high school seniors may underestimate the magnitude of violence and substance utilise amidst young people of this age, given that the virtually violence prone and heaviest substance users are likely to accept dropped out of school by their senior twelvemonth. Because of this possibility, we also examined the information collected from 8^th and 10^th graders. In general, the patterns and trends are like to those reported here (although rates of vehement behavior are generally higher and substance corruption lower among the 8^thursday and 10^th graders than among the 12^th graders). Exceptions to these similar trends include the fact that self-reported fighting amidst viii^th grade African American girls decreased in the most recent time menses, as did injuring someone among 8^th form White and African American girls (although trends for 10^th graders were similar to those of 12^th graders). Even so, our interest in the convergence hypothesis – a question that is explicitly nearly trends over time – necessitated that we utilise data from the grouping for whom we have the longest fourth dimension period – high schoolhouse seniors (every bit 8^th and ten^th graders were not interviewed until 1991).

These analyses were likewise restricted by the limited number of measures of vehement behavior collected in the Monitoring the Future study. Given that girls' violence is more likely to occur in private settings between girls and their relatives or romantic partners, and the prove that the increase in girls' arrests for assault is driven by arrests for domestic violence (Chesney-Lind, 2002; Steffensmeier et al., 2005), ideally we would have had a measure that asked specifically about such violence. Some other limitation, as noted previously, is that the small sample of Native American youth included in the study necessitates that we translate their results with caution. Finally, reliance on self-reports of runaway behavior is also a limitation, the bug with which we accept highlighted in our previous word. At the same time, the use of self-reports of beliefs provides the states with an important ways with which to question the alarming increases in arrests of girls and boys in recent decades.

A comparison of trends in girls' and boys' abort rates with those of their self-reports could lead one to conclude that girls have been underrepresented in the justice system and that justice is only "catching up" with them. For example, in earlier years girls were approximately one-half equally probable every bit boys to report fighting at schoolhouse or work, whereas girls' arrest rates in the 1980s were only one-3rd as loftier as boys' rates. Similarly, a comparison of drug abuse arrest rates with rates of booze use or marijuana use could suggest that girls proceed to be grossly underrepresented in arrests. Still, when we consider the magnitude of the increases in arrests of both girls and boys alongside the relatively abiding (or decreasing) self-reports of these behaviors, it is credible that at that place is something more meaning occurring.

Therefore, we notation that even when girls' violent behavior or drug use has increased, it has not increased nearly enough to account for the dramatic increases in girls' arrests for violence and drug abuse violations. The data presented here indicate that booze and marijuana use in recent years are lower than they were 30 years ago. Given that the majority of girls do non enter the juvenile justice system for a violent offense and that there has been a 300% increase in the number of girls entering for drug offenses (OJJDP, 2007), our findings provide support for the work of Chesney-Lind and Paramore (2001), Steffensmeier and colleagues (2005), and others that has concluded that we must account for the increases in girls' arrests by examining changing justice system policies and practices. Thus, additional research is needed to improve empathize how changing system policies and practices account for girls' increased arrests and justice system involvement (eastward.g., "zero tolerance" and mandatory abort policies, the war on drugs). Further, it must also seek to develop and evaluate alternatives to the justice system through the strengthening of customs-based institutions and other approaches to youth development, as there is reason to question whether arresting immature people, both girls and boys, and referring them to the juvenile court is an effective response to "delinquent" behaviors (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2008).

Time to come enquiry must also attend to the increases in cocky reports of some violent behaviors among girls in specific racial and ethnic groups. While information technology is clear that girls go along to report engaging in violence at very depression rates, increases in reports of violent beliefs (whether they reflect actual changes in beliefs or just of reporting of information technology) are troubling and suggest the need for attention. Consequently, additional inquiry is necessary to improve understand the increment in African American girls' reports of fighting and of White, African American, and Hispanic girls' reports of injuring someone and to farther explain how the structural conditions in which girls alive shape the ways that they navigate, negotiate, and written report violence in their lives.

Finally, future research should address how the lives of these girls and societal responses to their behavior have been shaped past neo-liberal policies that accept led to a dismantling of the welfare state and substantial growth in the justice systems. These bug are of particular importance to social workers and social service providers charged with developing and implementing interventions for girls, as we seek to contextualize our understandings of girls' needs in the current climate of unprecedented incarceration rates for people of both genders in the U.S., where nosotros at present have the highest rates of incarceration in the world (Pew Eye on the States, 2008). The importance of locating these questions within the broader social context is evidenced past the fact that our work, in conjunction with other studies, suggests that the increasing arrest and arbitrament of girls is not a result of their changing behavior, simply, instead, of changing policies and practices within our justice and social service systems.

Footnotes

ⁱThe fierce crime index includes murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated attack.

^twoMany scholars (east.chiliad., Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2004) note that utilize of percent increases exaggerates the change in girls' arrests because the numbers are and then much smaller for girls in the commencement place. Thus, the changes of the 1990s evident in Figure 1 tin be stated in two different ways. Nosotros can say that girls' arrests for violent crime increased between 1980 and their peak in 1995 by 124%, while boys increased only 46% during this menstruation, making it seem that the increase for girls was much more than dramatic. Alternatively, we can say that girls' rates increased by 87 per 100,000, while boys' increased by 269 per 100,000 – a representation which emphasizes the fact that in absolute numbers, boys' increase was much larger (over 3 times larger in fact) than that of girls.

ⁱⁱⁱEven so, punishment and incarceration have profoundly increased during this period (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008).

⁴Findings for 8^th and ten^th graders are mostly consequent with those for 12^th graders and are bachelor from the authors.

^fiveRespondents who chose multiple races/ethnicities or other categories are omitted.

^viWe recognize that each of these racial and indigenous groups is various and treating them every bit homogenous may mask important within- and between-group differences. Ideally, more than refined racial and ethnic subgroup measures would exist used; unfortunately, these measures are non available in the dataset.

⁷Because Monitoring the Future was not designed specifically to assess violent behavior, there are a very express number of measures bachelor for assessing it.

⁸We calculated 95% confidence intervals for all of the observed estimates reported in Table 2 (bachelor from the authors). Unless otherwise noted, differences discussed in the text are statistically significant. For every racial/ethnic subgroup on all measures included here, boys' rates were significantly college than those of girls, with the exception of alcohol and marijuana employ among Native American youth, for which the 95% confidence intervals overlapped.

⁹Although, for each of these groups of boys, the 95% confidence intervals for the ii measures overlap somewhat.

¹⁰Given the pocket-sized sample size of Native American youth, withal, these differences are not statistically significant.

¹¹Although for girls, the conviction intervals of Native Americans overlap with those of Whites and Hispanics.

¹²We do not present the trends over fourth dimension for the entire sample, equally these are largely similar to those of White youth because White youth make up the overwhelming bulk of the sample.

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Correspondent Information

Sara Goodkind, University of Pittsburgh, Schoolhouse of Social Work and Center on Race and Social Problems.

John M. Wallace, Jr., University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work and Heart on Race and Social Problems.

Jeffrey J. Shook, University of Pittsburgh, Schoolhouse of Social Work and Heart on Race and Social Problems.

Jerald Bachman, University of Michigan.

Patrick O'Malley, University of Michigan.

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Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720555/

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