Measuring offending: self-reports, official records, systematic observation and experimentation

Gomes, Hugo S.; Maia, Ângela; Farrington, David P.

doi:10.1080/23744006.2018.1475455

Cited by 27 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Police records were accessed to corroborate girls’ self-reports of delinquency, and arrest records at 36 months postintervention showed low base rates of documented arrests ( n = 14); thus, we were not able to include this measure in our path model. There is some debate in the field regarding the limitations of both self-report and official records for delinquency (Gomes et al, 2018), with evidence that some subpopulations of adolescents report greater variability in delinquent behaviors with self-report relative to delinquent acts that are captured through arrest records (Kirk, 2006). As our mediation model did not reach conventional statistical significance thresholds, future studies might employ more highly powered designs and additional, robust measures of delinquency to further assess the potential effectiveness of the Keep Safe intervention in reducing adolescent girls’ delinquency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Relations and Delinquency Among Girls in Foster Care Following a Skill-Building Preventive Intervention

Ryzin

Schweer‐Collins

et al. 2020

Child Maltreat

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is evidence that risk for delinquency is elevated among girls with foster care histories, and one correlate of delinquency is affiliating with peers who engage in delinquent behavior. Although intervention studies have shown positive effects of interventions that target delinquent peer affiliation on reductions in delinquency among adolescents with juvenile justice histories, the success of such interventions for younger girls in foster care, without prior involvement with juvenile justice, is unknown. We analyzed data from a randomized clinical trial of the middle school version of the Keep Safe intervention in a sample of girls in foster care ( n = 100). The intervention was delivered to girls and foster parents during the transition to middle school. Path analysis suggested a significant intervention effect on reduction in affiliation with delinquent peers at 12 months ( B = −.21). No significant mediation effects were identified. The middle school Keep Safe intervention shows promise as a preventative intervention for reducing affiliation with delinquent peers, which importantly is associated with adolescent delinquent behavior. Implications for researchers and professionals who tailor and deliver evidence-based programs for girls in foster care are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Relations and Delinquency Among Girls in Foster Care Following a Skill-Building Preventive Intervention

Ryzin

Schweer‐Collins

et al. 2020

Child Maltreat

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite the wide use of the self-report methods in criminology, many researchers have shared their concerns about the quality of this methodology and how several contextual features may impact participants' self-reports of offending. However, much of the research in the field of criminological methodology has been focused on the comparison between offending data collected through self-reports and official records (Gomes et al 2018a), which tells us little about how to improve the methods of obtaining offending information. In this review, we carried out a systematic search for experiments testing potential sources of bias in collecting self-reports of offending in order to summarize the available information about measurement bias in criminology, providing evidence to improve data collection of self-reported offending.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, the validity of research findings is limited by the validity of the measurement itself. Traditionally, the most widely used methods of measuring crime are official records and self-reports (for reviews, see Thornberry and Krohn 2000;Gomes et al 2018a). Both measurements have their strengths and weaknesses, though there is evidence that self-report measures provide better estimates of the prevalence and mean frequency of delinquent behavior (e.g., Loeber et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement bias in self-reports of offending: a systematic review of experiments

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives Self-reported offending is one of the primary measurement methods in criminology. In this article, we aimed to systematically review the experimental evidence regarding measurement bias in self-reports of offending. Methods We carried out a systematic search for studies that (a) included a measure of offending, (b) compared self-reported data on offending between different methods, and (c) used an experimental design. Effect sizes were used to summarize the results. Results The 21 pooled experiments provided evidence regarding 18 different types of measurement manipulations which were grouped into three categories, i.e., Modes of administration, Procedures of data collection, and Questionnaire design. An analysis of the effect sizes for each experimental manipulation revealed, on the one hand, that selfreports are reliable across several ways of collecting data and, on the other hand, selfreports are influenced by a wide array of biasing factors. Within these measurement biases, we found that participants' reports of offending are influenced by modes of administration, characteristics of the interviewer, anonymity, setting, bogus pipeline, response format, and size of the questionnaire. Conclusions This review provides evidence that allows us to better understand and improve crime measurements. However, many of the experiments presented in this review are not replicated and additional research is needed to test further aspects of how asking questions may impact participants' answers.

show abstract

“…Due to this and the anonymity of the study, it may be assumed that the actual frequency and the age at onset of violence will be uncovered to a greater and earlier extent compared to official crime records. However, it should be noted that despite a high level of agreement between self-reports and official arrest reports ( Dubow et al, 2014 ; Gomes et al, 2018 ), we cannot rule out that the data may be influenced by social desirability and memory biases. To avoid socially desirable answering, the survey was fully anonymous and we listed accurate examples for each violence type to increase participants’ retrospective memory.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Lifetime Prevalence of Victimization and Perpetration as Related to Men’s Health: Clinical Insights

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Violence is a known risk factor for health problems. In this epidemiological study across 5,385 male patients, we investigate the prevalence of perpetrated violence, exposure to violence, their overlap and the relationship between violence, mental, and psychosomatic health, as well as adverse health behaviors, such as self-harming behavior and the consumption of drugs. Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire addressing violence experience (i.e., both expose and perpetration), age of victimization/perpetration, frequency, and perceived severity of violence exposure. We considered physical, psychological as well as sexual violence. Information on health status and adverse health behaviors complemented the data. Results showed that 48.4% of the sample reported having experienced violence (perpetration, victimization, or both). The victim-perpetrator overlap formed the largest group, in which the incidence of having experienced multiple types of violence was significantly higher compared to victims and perpetrators. The age-crime curve flattened more slowly with increasing age in this group. Although the perceived severity of exposure to violence is lower in the overlap group, its health status and adverse health behaviors were worse. Interventions should focus on this group since they constitute a burden for the healthcare system.

show abstract

Measuring offending: self-reports, official records, systematic observation and experimentation

Cited by 27 publications

References 48 publications

Peer Relations and Delinquency Among Girls in Foster Care Following a Skill-Building Preventive Intervention

Peer Relations and Delinquency Among Girls in Foster Care Following a Skill-Building Preventive Intervention

Measurement bias in self-reports of offending: a systematic review of experiments

Lifetime Prevalence of Victimization and Perpetration as Related to Men’s Health: Clinical Insights

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About