Reading Attainment and Juvenile Delinquency

Structural equation modelling was used with data from a longitudinal study of child development (N = 698) to examine relationships between early reading attainment and antisocial behaviour at ages 7 and 9 years and subsequent reading and delinquent behaviour in adolescence. While reading, analysed as a continuous variable, did not directly influence later delinquency, antisocial behaviour during the early school years was strongly predictive of delinquency at age 15 years, particularly for boys, and had a detrimental effect on reading. These findings were independent of social disadvantage, and were unchanged by adjusting reading scores for IQ. Reading disability at 9 years old, however, predicted conduct disorder at age 15 in boys.