Citation

Wiesner M, Capaldi DM, Kim HK. Criminology 2007; 45(4): 835-863.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Society of Criminology)

DOI

10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00099.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of different operationalizations of offending behavior on the identified trajectories of offending and to relate findings to hypothesized dual taxonomy models. Prior research with 203 young men from the Oregon Youth Study identified six offender pathways, based on self-report data (Wiesner and Capaldi, 2003). The current study used official records data (number of arrests) for the same sample. Semiparametric groupbased modeling indicated three distinctive arrest trajectories: high-level chronics, low-level chronics, and rare offenders. Both chronic arrest trajectory groups were characterized by relatively equal rates of early onset offenders, which indicates, therefore, some divergence from hypothesized dual taxonomies. Overall, this study demonstrated limited convergence of trajectory findings across official records versus selfreport measures of offending behavior.