| Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study will seek evidence that support or refute the notion that parents' educational attainment level is the strongest predictor of their children's likelihood of engaging in violent juvenile behavior (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012).;This study examines the relationship between family, community and school related risk factors conducive to the development of juvenile violence. This study consist of two parts: The first aim of this quantitative, correlational study is to examine the component elements (adolescent drug use, low educational attainment, poverty) of family dysfunction and compare correlations between each element with the criminal conduct of four groups of juveniles(the early starters vs. late starters and the adolescent- limiteds vs. life course persisters) representing different criminal profiles; and the relationship with their parents' educational attainment levels (high school diploma, college degree) to statistically determine the strongest predictor of juvenile violence. The second part of this study is to determine the correlation between parental educational attainment levels (high school diploma, college degree) and component elements (adolescent drug use, parental drug use, low educational attainment, poverty, and marital status) of family dysfunction, and their statistical predictability of juvenile academic failure. |
