Sensation Seeking, Early Pregnancy and Criminal Justice System Involvement Among Latino Youth
The present study examined the relationship between the level of sensation seeking, early pregnancy, and criminal justice system involvement among Latino youth. It is a secondary analysis of data that comes from the Boricua Youth Study, an ongoing longitudinal study of Puerto Rican children and preadolescents living in the South Bronx and Puerto Rico. In the current analysis, data were analyzed on 69 participants who had completed measures of sensation seeking, pregnancy and arrests to predict whether sensation seeking would predict arrests and pregnancy at the second time period. Sensation seeking was evaluated at baseline. Early pregnancy and criminal justice system involvement were evaluated at a follow up period 10 years later. Results showed that sensation seeking did not predict pregnancy, but it did predict youth criminal justice involvement. Implications of the findings and future directions are discussed.
Sensation seeking, delinquency, Latino Youth, Medicine and Health Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology
City University of New York - City College
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations