Juby and Farrington: The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

Question 1

What section is this study in?

Answer 1

Upbringing

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

411 boys
Aged 8 and 9 at beginning of study Born in 1953/4
Selected from 6 state schools in East London
Predominantly white working class
397 families involved including 14 pairs of brothers and 5 pairs of twins

Question 3

What happened to the individuals when they were 48?

Answer 3

When individuals were 48, criminal records were checked and they were interviewed in their own homes.

Question 4

How many of the participants were alive at the end of the study and how many were interviewed?

Answer 4

394/411 were still alive and 365 were interviewed. This represents 93% of the original sample.

Question 5

What did the participants have to do previously?

Answer 5

From when the boys were 8 to when they were 14-15, parents were interviewed annually and teachers completed questionnaires about truancy and school behaviour.

Question 6

Research method used

Answer 6

Prospective longitudinal survey

Question 7

How many of the individuals had criminal convictions?

Answer 7

161

Question 8

What was the peak age of crime?

Answer 8

17

Question 9

What percentage admitted to committing one type of offence at some point in their lives?

Answer 9

93%

Question 10

What percentage of males were defined as chronic offenders?

Answer 10

7% - Farrington called these persisters. Tended to be convicted before and after their 21st birthday.

Question 11

Delinquency rates among 75 boys in permanently disrupted families and intact homes?

Answer 11

Disrupted - 29%
Intact - 18%
Boys who came from disrupted families but who continued to live with their mothers were no more likely to be delinquent than boys from intact families.

Question 12

How many criteria were used to assess who was leading a successful life?

Answer 12

9. To be considered successful, 6/9 had to be met. Examples include: no drug use in last 5 years, no self reported offence in the last 5 years, satisfactory mental health.

Question 13

What are the most important risk factors?

Answer 13

Criminality in the family, poverty, impulsiveness, poor child rearing and poor school performance. If the participants mother or father had a previous conviction, the chances of the participant being convicted was twice as high.

Question 14

What percentages met the criteria at ages 32 and 48?

Answer 14

32 - 78%

48 - 88%