A model of girls' school delinquency: school bonding and reputation.

Using a longitudinal national database, the authors conducted a path analysis of girls' school delinquency to determine the indirect and direct effects of socioeconomic status, parental involvement, bonding to school, and girls' self-perception of reputation on school delinquency during middle school and high school. Self-perception of reputation was the most influential factor in girls' school delinquency, followed by bond to school and socioeconomic status. Implications for school counselors are presented.

**********

School delinquency--student behaviors ranging from nonattendance and misconduct to crimes that occur on campus or in proximity to school--has been a crucial topic of discussion in high schools across the country (Gottfredson, 2001; Jenkins, 1997; Welsh, Greene, & Jenkins, 1999). In fact, schools are the primary setting in which much of adolescent delinquency occurs and the most promising setting for the prevention of delinquency (Gottfredson; Jenkins; Snyder & Sickmund, 1995). High school students with disciplinary problems often have a poor attendance history, disturb teachers and other students, and produce a school environment that is not favorable to learning (Tobias & Myrick, 1999; Welsh et al.). Both teachers and students can feel fearful and uncomfortable as a result of school delinquency (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1991; Welsh, 2001; Welsh et al.).

Recent studies have shown that 6-9% of students account for approximately 50% of discipline problems in the school (Sugai, Sprague, Homer, & Walker, 2000) and that early discipline problems also predict future problems (Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 1995). Students who have disciplinary problems often come to the attention of school counselors. When a student with a disciplinary problem is referred to a school counselor, the school counselor is charged with finding the most effective counseling interventions (Cochran & Cochran, 1999; Keys & Bemak, 1998; Tobias & Myrick). Selecting appropriate interventions can be difficult if little is known about the factors that influence school delinquency.

Identifying appropriate prevention and intervention efforts for girls' school delinquency may be particularly challenging because girls' delinquent conduct historically has been less frequent and serious than that of boys, has been studied less often, and is, therefore, less understood (American Bar Association [ABA], 2001; Gottfredson, 2001; Hoyt & Scherer, 1998; Jenkins, 1997; Lawrence, 1998; Sprague et al., 2001; Wells, 1994). However, attending to girls' misconduct is important for schools because girls' delinquency is on the rise (ABA; Archwamety & Katsiyannis, 1998; Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992; Poe-Yamagata, 1997). Stahl (2003) reports that girls' delinquency has increased 59% over the past decade in all categories. In response to the rising incidence of girls' delinquency, there has been a call for research to address the factors contributing to girls' delinquency and the development of counseling programs to address the needs of girls at risk for delinquency in multiple contexts, including schools (ABA; Belknap, Holsinger, & Dunn, 1997; Girls Incorporated, 1996; Greene, Peters, & Associates, 1998; Maniglia & Community Research Associates, 1998; Pepi, 1998; Tuesday, 1998).

A REPUTATION MODEL OF GIRLS' SCHOOL DELINQUENCY

Examination of factors related to girls' school delinquency is necessary to understand why some girls engage in school delinquency while others exhibit few problem behaviors in middle and high school. What makes some students become involved in delinquent behavior? School delinquency has been explained by family issues, the school's environment, peers' behaviors, and the individual attributes of students (e.g., Jenkins, 1997; Sprague et al., 2001; Welsh, 2001; Welsh et al., 1999). In the study of girls' delinquency, social factors such as relationships to families, peers, and schools have played a prominent role because girls are widely considered to be more affected by the nature of their relationships with others than are boys (Giordano & Cernkovich, 1997; Hoyt & Scherer, 1998). When girls' individual attributes have been considered in delinquency research, psychopathology, biology, and sexuality have been emphasized (Fishbein, 1992; Hoyt & Scherer, 1998; Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996). Only recently have researchers begun to emphasize developmental and sociological explanations of girls' delinquency (Hoyt & Scherer) and to hypothesize interrelationships between social and psychological factors and delinquency (Erickson, Crosnoe, & Dornbusch, 2000; Heimer, 1996; Hoge, Andrews, & Leschied, 1994; Liu & Kaplan, 1999; Mak, 1990; Smith & Kerpelman, 2004). Therefore, examination of developmental and psychosocial models of girls' school delinquency is needed.

A psychosocial model of adolescent delinquency that has not been examined with girls' school-related delinquent conduct is reputation theory. Reputation theory is a psychosocial model of delinquency that describes a developmental process by which adolescents develop their identity and social standing (Carroll, Houghton, Hattie, & Durkin, 1999; Emler, 1984; Emler & Reicher, 1995). Examination of a reputation model of girls' school delinquency is important because girls' social bonds have been proposed to be particularly important in their delinquent conduct and individual factors attributed to girls have been primarily pathological. According to reputation theory, adolescent delinquent involvement is an identity process through which an adolescent develops a particular social identity, and delinquent conduct is an intentional effort to promote a social self (e.g., breaking rules at school is a public portrayal of an adolescent's identity as a troublemaker) (Carroll et al., 1999; Emler & Reicher). Therefore, the context of adolescents' delinquent behaviors provides a social setting through which adolescents develop and maintain a chosen identity and delinquent reputation (Carroll et al.; Emler).

The school environment is a primary setting for the development and maintenance of adolescents' reputation. School settings provide the social opportunities for adolescents to demonstrate their chosen identities, to develop and maintain their reputations, and to signify their memberships in particular adolescent groups through their behavior (Carroll et al., 1999). Students choose from a variety of reputational features that are prosocial or deviant, such as troublemaker, bully, good student, or good person (Carroll et al.). Carroll, Green, Houghton, and Wood (2003) found that high school students' perceptions of their reputations (e.g., as being a troublemaker or not) were closely associated with their participation in delinquency. Carroll et al. (2003) also reported that girls were more likely to want a prosocial reputation than were boys. However, a comprehensive examination of girls' reputations, particularly in the school setting, and the relationship between reputation and school delinquency remains lacking.

Reputation theory suggests that the nature of adolescents' social bonds influences how they make identity decisions and develop their reputation (Emler & Reicher, 1995). According to Hirschi (1969), social bonding refers to four basic elements: attachment is the strength of ties to others, commitment is the investment in conventional activities, involvement is the proportion of time spent in conventional activities, and belief is the attribution of society's conventional norms. Each of these types of social bonds can work independently to affect adolescent delinquent conduct. Hirschi hypothesized a direct relationship between social bonding and delinquency; that is, adolescents who are bonded to conventional others (e.g., parents and teachers) and institutions (e.g., schools) naturally fear losing these important relationships and so do not endanger them by acting out. In contrast, reputation enhancement theorists maintain that if social bonding is low, adolescents shape their identity according to their social circumstances and are more likely to choose to represent a less prosocial or a delinquent reputation than those who have stronger conventional ties (e.g., troublemaker or bully) (Carroll et al., 1999; Emler & Reicher). Therefore, social bonding affects delinquency through the individual's identity process and reputation development.

Reputation theory is consistent with research that links social bonding to adolescent delinquency for both girls and boys (Ayers et al., 1999; Cernkovich & Giordano, 1992; Zhang & Messner, 1996). When students do not hold positive views and do not feel connected to their school, they feel alienated and are at higher risk for school failure, dropping out, and future criminal behavior (Cernkovich & Giordano; Goodenow, 1993; Jenkins, 1997; Welsh et al., 1999). For girls, relationships fostered with teachers (Erickson et al., 2000; Rosenbaum & Lasley, 1990; Smith & Kerpelman, 2004), academic performance, and educational commitment (Archwamety & Katsiyannis, 1998; Erickson et al., 2000; Lewin, Davis, & Hops, 1999) have been linked to delinquent conduct. Parental involvement in their children's schooling also has been linked to successful educational and behavioral outcomes (Edin & Lein, 1997; Furstenberg, Cook, Eccles, Elder, & Sameroff, 1999; Murry et al., 2002), and studies have reported relationships between parental involvement and school bonding and delinquency for both genders (Jenkins). Girls' relationships to parents also have been linked strongly to girls' delinquency (e.g., Alarid, Burton, & Cullen, 2000; Goldstein & Heaven, 2000; Lauritsen, 1993). Though girls' school and parental relationships have been widely considered as a factor in delinquency, the relationship of these important bonds to girls' school misbehavior and delinquency remains unclear.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal effects of socioeconomic status (SES), school bonding, parental involvement, and reputation variables on girls' school delinquency behaviors during the middle and high school years. A theoretical model that shapes these hypotheses is tested in this study. This model tested is based on reputation enhancement theory and is consistent with frameworks presented in previous studies (Carroll et al., 1999, 2003; Emler & Reicher, 1995; Smith & Kerpelman, 2004). Variables for SES, parental involvement, and bond to school were assessed when the students were 8th graders. The reputation variable was assessed when the students were in the 10th grade; and the school delinquency variable was assessed when the students were in 12th grade.

METHOD

Participants

Participants in the current study were 3,870 female adolescents from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88) base year through the second follow-up panel sample. The participants were approximately 73% "White, non-Hispanic," 8% "Black, non-Hispanic," 7% "Asian or Pacific Islander," 2% "American Indian or Alaska native," and 10% "Hispanic or Latino (any race)." Approximately 39% were from the Southern United States; about 15% were from the Northeast; 26% were from the North Central region; and about 20% were from the Western United States. Approximately 28% of participants were from urban areas, about 30% were from suburban areas, and roughly 42% were from rural areas.

This study utilized data from three waves of NELS:88 data collection: (a) variables for SES, parental involvement, and bond to school were from the Base-Year Student Questionnaire administered when students were 8th graders; (b) the reputation variable was from the First Follow-Up Student Questionnaire administered when students were 10th graders; and (c) the school delinquency variable was from the Second Follow-Up Student Questionnaire administered when students were 12th graders (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). The database, which consists of these three longitudinal waves, presents a unique chance to study persistence by using a large, national sample with an extensive set of demographic, psychological, family, and school experience variables.

NELS:88 has a two-stage clustered sampling design; that is, U.S. schools were first sampled, then students within schools were sampled (see Ingels et al., 1994). Because the NELS:88 sample design involved stratification, disproportionate sampling of certain strata (e.g., oversampling of Hispanics), and clustered (e.g., students within a school) probability sampling, the resulting statistics are more variable than they would have been had they been based on data collected from a simple random sample of the same size (Quick Guide to Using the NELS:88/2000 Data, 2002). Trusty (2002) also referred to the same problem: "There is generally less variability within clustered samples than within simple random samples, and almost all statistical methods assume simple random sampling. Therefore, in NELS:88 samples, standard errors are spuriously small" (p. 335).

To correct for this phenomenon, a number of statistical packages (e.g., SUDAAN and STRATTAB) could be used. For this study, DEFTS (square root of the design effects) calculated by the AM software (available for free download: am.air.org) was used to take into account complex sampling designs in the calculation of standard errors. In this study, the DEFTS ranged from 1.02 to 1.42, with a mean DEFT of 1.17.

Variables

Girls' school delinquency. School delinquency has been defined as the incidence of student misconduct, nonattendance, and school crime that occurs in and within close proximity to schools (Jenkins, 1997; Welsh et al., 1999). In this study, students' school delinquency variable was assessed on the NELS:88 Second Follow-Up Student Questionnaire, administrated when adolescents were 12th graders. Participants responded to the question "How many times did the following things happen to you in the first semester or term of the current school year?" for the following eight items:

1. I was late for school.

2. I cut or skipped classes.

3. I missed a day of school.

4. I got in trouble for not following school rules.

5. I was put on an in-school suspension.

6. I was suspended or put on probation from school.

7. I was transferred for disciplinary reasons.

8. I spent time in juvenile center.

Items used in this study range from student misconduct and nonattendance (e.g., late for school or not following school rules) to those that describe more serious offenses in the school community (e.g., transferred for disciplinary reasons or spent time in juvenile center) and are therefore consistent with the construct of school delinquency proposed by Jenkins and Welsh.

Participants indicated one of six ordinal categories coded from 1 to 6. Categories are "none," "1-2 times," "3-6 times," "7-9 times," "10-14 times," and "over 15 times." Results of the factor analysis clearly show two factors. Whereas one factor reflected minor delinquent behaviors, the other factor assessed major delinquent behaviors. Both factor items loaded above .51 in the rotated matrix. However, in this study, we used the total score instead of each subscale score because we believe that the total score reflects a global feature of the students' behavioral problems. The Cronbach's alpha for all eight items was .65, which suggests that the measure is useful for research purposes.

Reputation. Reputation assesses the adolescent's beliefs about how her friends and peers see her positive and negative attributes and behaviors. Two items were identified from the NELS:88 First Follow-Up Student Questionnaire, administrated when the adolescents were 10th graders. One of the items was indicative of a prosocial reputation and the other of a more deviant or trouble-making reputation. Items included "My friends think of me as a troublemaker" (this item was reverse scored) and "My friends think I am a good student." A 3-point Likert-type scale was used to measure the reputation variable, anchored with the words "not at all," "somewhat," and "very." The mean score on the reputation variable of the 3,870 participants was 2.55, with a standard deviation of .40. Other reputational attributes were not represented in items from the NELS database; however, the items used in the study represent at least one positive and one negative reputational attribute.

Parental involvement. Parental involvement refers to parents' participation in their children's schooling by encouraging good study habits, communicating with school personnel, attending school activities, and teaching behavior that is conducive to academic success (Jenkins, 1997). In addition to involvement, the items used in this study also are reflective of other social bond elements such as families' commitment to their child's schooling. From the NELS:88 Base-Year Student Questionnaire, administrated when adolescents were 8th graders, five items were identified that indicated parental involvement. Items of parental involvement indicated the degree to which students discuss school with their parents. Students were asked, "In the first half of this school year, how often have you discussed--"

1. Programs at school with parents

2. School activities with parents

3. Things studied in class with parents

4. Planning high school program with father

5. Planning high school program with mother.

The format of parental involvement items was a 3-point Likert-type scale anchored with the words "never," "sometimes," and "often." The factor analysis exhibited a global factor model. All five items load above .59 in the unrotated factor matrix. The Cronbach's alpha for these five items was .71, which suggests a moderate degree of consistency across items.

Bond to school. School bonding refers to the connection that a student has with her school, school personnel, and the school's values (Maddox & Prinz, 2003). Items in this study primarily measured attachment to school personnel (e.g., "Most of my teachers really listen," "My teachers praise my efforts") and attitudes toward school (e.g., "Students get along with teachers," "There is real school spirit"), which according to Maddox and Prinz is consistent with school bonding. The school bonding variable was assessed on the NELS:88 Base-Year Student Questionnaire, administrated when adolescents were 8th graders.

Participants responded to the question "How much do you agree with each of the following statements about your school and teachers?" for the following eight items:

1. Students get along well with teachers.

2. There is real school spirit.

3. Discipline is fair.

4. The teaching is good.

5. Teachers are interested in students.

6. When I work hard on schoolwork, my teachers praise my effort.

7. In class, I feel put down by my teachers. (This item was reverse scored.)

8. Most of my teachers really listen to what I have to say.

The school bonding items were on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." The factor analysis yields a global factor model. All eight items load above .50 in the unrotated factor matrix. Internal consistency for all eight items of the school bonding variable also was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The resulting coefficient of .81 demonstrated a high degree of consistency across items.

Socioeconomic status. SES is characterized by the economic, social, and physical environments in which individuals live and work, as well as by demographic and genetic factors. For the purpose of this study, measures of SES include five equally weighted, standardized components: father's education, mother's education, family income, father's occupation, and mother's occupation (U.S. Department of Education, 2002).

Data Analysis

A path analysis of female students' problem behavior was conducted to determine the indirect and direct effects of SES, parental involvement, bond to school, and reputation on female students' school delinquency. The AMOS program (Analysis of MOment Structures; Arbuckle, 2003) was used to conduct the structure equation modeling analysis.

Because multivariate tests of normality using AMOS 5.0 showed that the data violated normality (i.e., positive skewness and kurtosis in the data showed that the majority of responses clustered around low frequencies of school delinquency), using the maximum likelihood estimation method that counts on the normality assumption was inappropriate. Instead, it is preferable to use estimation methods such as unweighted least-squares analyses, which are based on the covariance matrix (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). Accordingly, the data were tested using the unweighted least-squares estimation method that accounts for deviations from normality. Using an unweighted least-squares analyses estimation method, path coefficients for the model were calculated. Residual values specifying the difference between the observed and the expected values for the path coefficients, as well as for several goodness-of-fit omnibus measures, were produced.

RESULTS

Table 1 reports the means and standard deviations of all variables entered in the path analysis. The means for parental involvement and bond to school suggested a moderately high level of parental involvement and school bonding. The reputation mean score indicated that, overall, these adolescent women viewed themselves and their reputations positively. With regard to students' school delinquency, the girls in the NELS:88 data reported very little involvement. Correlations indicated that higher SES, higher parent involvement and bond to school, and more positive reputation beliefs were related to lower scores on girls' school delinquency.

The direct, indirect, and total effects on female adolescents' school delinquency behaviors were calculated. As shown in Figure 1, the effect of students' 10th-grade reputation was by Jar the most powerful ([beta] = -.28). This result strongly suggests that the students who viewed themselves positively tended to be involved in less delinquency behaviors when they were in 12th grade. The second significant direct effect on the female students' delinquency variable was from the students' bond to school ([beta] = -.11). The result reflects that female adolescents who had a strong bond to school when they were in 8th grade were less likely to be involved with disciplinary problems in later years. In addition to its direct effect (-.11), the school bond variable also influenced female students' school delinquency behavior indirectly through self-perception of reputation (-.06). That is, school bonding influenced reputation, which, in turn, influenced girls' school delinquency.

Finally, although socioeconomic status did not exert a direct significant influence on female students' delinquency behavior, through the reputation variable, the SES variable exerted a significant negative indirect effect (-.05) on female students' school delinquency, indicating that high SES female students had more positive reputations than low SES girls.

Interestingly, no statistically significant effect of parental involvement variables on female students' school delinquency was found in this group. Therefore, it may be reasonable to conclude that the effect of the parental involvement variable on female students' school delinquency is so small and negligible that further empirical investigation is needed. Alternative explanations for this result are discussed in the next section.

In order to achieve parsimony that explains the most variance with the fewest indicators (Maruyama, 1997), one variable (parent involvement) and two paths (SES to school bond; SES and girls' school delinquency) that failed to appear at the .05 level were not included in the final structural equation modeling (SEM). With regard to the fit of this model, all the statistics indicate a very close fit of the model to the data [[chi square](2) = 1.13, ns; GFI = .99; AGFI = .99; RMR = .01]. That is, the final SEM turns out to be a plausible model. Regarding effect size, all variables together accounted for 10.4% of the variability in female students' school delinquency.

DISCUSSION

In the present study, we used a national database to determine the direct and indirect effects of SES, parental involvement, bond to school (8th-grade variables), and reputation (10th-grade variable) on 12th-grade females' school delinquency. The current research results provide evidence that female students who have positive beliefs about their reputation are less likely to be involved in disciplinary problems than those who have more negative beliefs. The results of the present study are consistent with studies that have examined social bonding and girls' delinquency (Smith & Kerpelman, 2004) and found that reputation is a significant factor in the explanation of girls' minor and serious delinquency. Reputation, therefore, also may be an important concept to consider in girls' school delinquency. It may be that the school context allows for the social visibility of problem behaviors and schoolmates become a primary audience for the development of reputation. This finding also offers support for the theory that peer influence is important for girls in developing acting-out behaviors (Bowker & Klein, 1983; Figueira-McDonough, 1985; Giordano, 1978; Heimer, 1996; Smith & Paternoster, 1987).

Bonds to school directly influenced girls' school delinquency and indirectly influenced delinquency as mediated by reputation. That is, girls who reported a strong bond to school had positive beliefs about their reputation and, in turn, were less likely to be engaged in school disciplinary problems. This finding is consistent with prior research that found the school social bond was influential for girls (Degelsmith, 2001; Jenkins, 1997; Sankey & Huon, 1999; Smith & Kerpelman, 2004) and that social bonding, in general, indirectly influences delinquency through reputation beliefs (Smith & Kerpelman). Positive beliefs about school and a sense of bonding to school may be an important protective factor for girls at risk for school-related delinquency.

In addition, the effect of SES on girls' school delinquency was examined in this study. Even though there were no direct effects of SES on school delinquency, SES had a significant negative indirect effect on delinquency through reputation. The results of the present study are consistent with previous studies (Tittle & Meier, 1991; Wright, Caspi, Moffitt, Miech, & Silva, 1999). The effect of SES on delinquency is mainly indirect and operates through various mediating factors such as social-psychological characteristics, peer networks, family conditions, and local environment condition (Tittle & Meier; Wright et al.).

The results of the present study also suggest that, even though SES and school bonding variables contribute some predictive knowledge about girls' involvement in disciplinary problems at school, it is crucial to assess their reputation beliefs in order to better explain their school delinquency. Close relationships with teachers, school counselors, and other adults also influence girls' reputation choices (Smith & Kerpelman, 2004). When these close relationships are not present, girls are more inclined to turn to peers for support and approval (Acoca, 1998; Carroll et al., 1999).

In contrast to Smith and Kerpelman's (2004) study that identified relationships between bonding to parents and delinquency, parent involvement as measured in this study was not related to girls' school delinquency. This result suggests the need for modifying prior models of girls' delinquency, which focused on dysfunctional parent-child relations (Henggeler, Edwards, & Borduin, 1987; Hoge et al., 1994).

There are some alternative explanations for the small effects of the parental involvement variable on female students' problem behavior in this study. First, the large effects of other variables (SES, bond to school, and reputation variables) may have decreased the significant influences of the parental involvement variable on female students' problem behavior. For example, the correlation between parental involvement and female problem behavior in this study was statistically significant. When other variables in the path analysis model are controlled for, however, the effects of the parental involvement factor are reduced and it did not show much effect on the female students' school delinquency. That is, when the effects of SES, bond to school, and reputation variables are taken into account in the model, the parental involvement variable would have little variance left to explain.

Next, the results of this study may reflect a pattern in the parental involvement of high school students. Measures used in this study addressed how much adolescents talk with their parents about schooling. It might be that high school students are gaining independence in making their own decisions (Newman, 1989; Newman & Newman, 1975, 2001). Even though, undoubtedly, parents have a substantial influence on the development of their children, it also may be that peers' influence on students' behavior increases during the high school period (Meeus, Oosterwegel, & Vollebergh, 2002; Newman).

Limitations

The present study overcomes many of the limitations of previous research in that a longitudinal design and a large nationally representative sample were used. However, one of the limitations is related to its greatest strength (i.e., a very large sample size). A large sample size could affect the level of statistical significance. Therefore, when statistically significant results are being interpreted, other indexes (e.g., goodness of fit or effect size) also are needed to determine the strength of the relationships. For example, the total variance explained regarding school delinquency in this study is 10.4% (i.e., the squared multiple correlation). This result shows that further studies are needed to explain the rest of the variance of school delinquency.

In addition, when an existing dataset such as NELS:88 is used, items available for variable measurement are limited. For the current research, items measuring parental involvement may not reflect important dimensions of the parent-child emotional relationship. In this study, the items that were used for the parental involvement variable only indicated the degree of communication between parent and child. These items may not clearly discriminate the effect of parental involvement on girls' school delinquency behaviors. In addition, there is a construct explication problem because of the limited items that are available. That is, the items measuring the constructs did not fully reflect the desired construct, which might cause a lack of construct validity. For example, to obtain school bond items, the researchers tried to find the items that reflected "the connection that a student has with their school, school personnel, and the school's values" (Maddox & Prinz, 2003). However, the items in the NELS database may not clearly or fully represent the school bond construct.

In most longitudinal studies, especially one such as the NELS:88 (12 years in length), many respondents do not participate in all waves of data collection. Students who dropped out of the NELS:88 prior to the 1992 wave data collection were more likely to be delinquent students. This disproportionate retention rate may result in bias. That is, the disproportionate retention rate may reduce the possible covariance between the variables due to restriction of range. The use of panel weights adjusts for bias caused by a disproportionate sample. However, the AMOS SEM program does not allow for the utilization of panel weights, which may result in bias in terms of a disproportionate sample.

Implications for School Counselors

Given the findings of this study, an important factor in working with girls' school delinquency may be their self-perception of reputation. The results of the present study show that high school students' peer appraisals (i.e., reputation) had more consistent and higher effects on girls' school delinquency than did their involvement with parents. For girls, choice of an identity and reputation may be strongly influenced by their relationships with peers. Therefore, in this study, reputation among peers was very influential in girls' school delinquency and should be considered as a primary target for school counseling interventions. Although we could not conclude that there is a causal relationship between reputation in 10th grade and school delinquent behaviors in 12th grade, our findings suggest that the school can help prevent girls' future problem behaviors through interventions enhancing their reputation among peers. For example, Tobias and Myrick (1999) provided evidence that counseling approaches that involve the peer group can be effective with problem behavior students.

The results of the present study also provide evidence that increasing students' bonds to the school is an important goal to help reduce girls' school delinquency. This is a particularly important finding because school bonding can be affected through intervention (Maddox & Prinz, 2003). Fostering connected relationships in the school setting also may facilitate girls' empowerment in the classroom and in future academic and career pursuits (Rosenbaum & Lasley, 1990). Therefore, by working in collaboration with teachers and administrators, school counselors can help create an atmosphere that fosters positive student-teacher relationships.

To nurture girls' healthy identities and reputation development in school, the concept of bonding and reputation can be emphasized throughout a comprehensive counseling program (American School Counselor Association, 2003) and can focus on the following goals: (a) to increase girls' bonding to school through meaningful relationships with school teachers and other school personnel, (b) to foster girls' understanding of relationships and the process of identity and reputation development, and (c) to empower girls to make healthy identity choices and alter problem behaviors.

Programs should focus on the identity choices that girls have made within the context of their relationships to others (i.e., parents, other adults, and peers) and their influences on girls' identity and reputation formation. To assist girls with this process, schools may include the involvement of women role models who understand prevention strategies (e.g., teachers, school counselors, peer educators, or members of the media) (National Institutes of Health, 1989; Pepi, 1998). Also, counseling interventions that nurture positive relationships with peers may be effective in presenting alternatives to further misconduct (Gottfredson, 2001; Hawkins & Lishner, 1987). For example, the Teachers as Student Advisors Program (TAP; Myrick, 2003) facilitates many of the needs, issues, and concerns pertaining to students on a one-to-one or small-group basis. Students in a TAP realize that the school and its teachers are working on their behalf. This, in turn, results in more positive attitudes toward the school. Other interventions, such as mentoring programs for students, are currently provided in many schools and communities. These programs would benefit from focusing on girls' lives, providing mentoring from both female peers and adults, and including the systematic infusion of positive messages concerning girlhood and reputation.

Conclusion

Female students' delinquency is an increasing trend that has not been sufficiently studied in the school counseling field. To develop more effective school counseling and guidance programs, it is important to identify the factors that influence girls' delinquent behavior. The results of this study indicate that nurturing girls' positive reputations and increasing students' bonds to the school are important factors to prevent girls' delinquent behavior. Although improving a school environment is everyone's responsibility, obviously, school counselors are in an ideal position to develop preventive programs for female students' delinquency. Therefore, collaborating with teachers, administrators, other school personnel, and parents, school counselors could play a leadership role in creating an environment that fosters students' positive reputation among peer groups and constructive attitude toward school.

The authors would like to thank Lauren Pasquarella Daley, doctoral candidate, University of Florida, and Kumlan Yu, doctoral student, University of Arkansas, for their editorial assistance with this article.

References

Acoca, L. (1998). Outside/inside: The violation of American girls at home, on the street, and in the juvenile justice system. Crime & Delinquency, 44, 561-588.

Alarid, L. F., Burton, V. S., & Cullen, F.T. (2000). Gender and crime among felony offenders: Assessing the generality of social control and differential association theories. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 37, 171-199.

American Bar Association and National Bar Association. (2001). Justice by gender: The lack of appropriate prevention, diversion and treatment alternatives for girls in the justice system [Online serial]. Retrieved May 12, 2004, from http:// www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/justicebygenderweb.pdf

American School Counselor Association. (2003). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D.W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended twostep approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 411-423.

Arbuckle, J. L. (2003). Amos 5.0 Update to the Amos User's Guide. Chicago: Smallwaters Corporation.

Archwamety, T., & Katsiyannis, A. (1998). Factors related to recidivism among delinquent females at a state correctional facility. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 7, 59-67.

Ayers, C. D., Williams, J. H., Hawkins, J. D., Peterson, P. L., Catalano, R. F., & Abbott, R. D. (1999). Assessing correlates of onset, escalation, deescalation, and desistance of delinquent behavior. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 15, 277-307.

Belknap, J., Holsinger, K., & Dunn, M. (1997). Understanding incarcerated girls: The results of a focus group study. Prison Journal, 77, 381-404.

Bowker, L. H., & Klein, M. W. (1983). The etiology of female juvenile delinquency and gang membership: A test of psychological and social structural explanations. Adolescence, 18, 739-751.

Carroll, A., Green, S., Houghton, S., & Wood, R. (2003). Reputation enhancement and involvement in delinquency among high school students. International Journal of Disability, Development, & Education, 50, 253-273.

Carroll, A., Houghton, S., Hattie, J., & Durkin, K. (1999). Adolescent reputation enhancement: Differentiating delinquent, nondelinquent, and at-risk youths. Journal of Child Psychiatry, 40, 593-606.

Cernkovich, S. A., & Giordano, P. C. (1992). School bonding, race, and delinquency. Criminology, 30, 261-291.

Chesney-Lind, M., & Shelden, R. (1992). Girls, delinquency, and juvenile justice. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Cochran, J. L., & Cochran, N. H. (1999). Using the counseling relationship to facilitate change in students with conduct disorder. Professional School Counseling, 2, 395-404.

Degelsmith, A. B. (2001). The relationship between students' sense of belonging in school and academic outcomes (Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts International, 61, 3049.

Edin, K., & Lein, L. (1997). Making ends meet: How single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Emler, N. (1984). Differential involvement in delinquency: Toward an interpretation in terms of reputation management. In B. A. Maher & W. B. Maher (Eds.), Progress in experimental personality research (pp. 173-237). New York: Academic Press.

Emler, N., & Reicher, S. (1995). Adolescence and delinquency. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

Erickson, K. G., Crosnoe, R., & Dornbusch, S. M. (2000). A social process model of adolescent deviance: Combining social control and differential association perspectives. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 395-425.

Figueira-McDonough, J. (1985). Are girls different? Gender discrepancies between delinquent behavior and control. Child Welfare, 64, 273-288.

Fishbein, D. (1992). The psychology of female aggression. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 19, 99-126.

Furstenberg, F., Cook, T. D., Eccles, J., Elder, G. H., & Sameroff, A. J. (1999). Managing to make it: Urban families and adolescent success. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Giordano, P. C. (1978). Girls, guys and gangs: The changing social context of female delinquency. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 69, 126-132.

Giordano, P. C., & Cernkovich, S. A. (1997). Gender and antisocial behavior. In D. M. Stoff, J. Breiling, & J. D. Maser (Eds.), Handbook of antisocial behavior (pp. 496-509). New York: Wiley and Sons.

Girls Incorporated. (1996). Prevention and parity: Girls in juvenile justice. Indianapolis, IN: Girls Incorporated National Resource Center.

Goldstein, M., & Heaven, P. M. L. (2000). Perceptions of the family, delinquency, and emotional adjustment among youth. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 1169-1178.

Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30, 79-90.

Gottfredson, D. C. (2001). Schools and delinquency. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Greene, Peters, & Associates in collaboration with the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. (1998). Guiding principles for promising female programming: An inventory of best practices. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Hawkins, D., & Lishner, D. (1987). School and delinquency. In E. Johnson (Ed.), Handbook on crime and delinquency (pp. 179-220). Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Heimer, K. (1996). Gender, interaction, and delinquency: Testing a theory of differential social control. Social Psychology Quarterly, 59, 39-58.

Henggeler, S. W., Edwards, J., & Borduin, C. M. (1987). The family relations of female juvenile delinquents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 199-209.

Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Hoge, R. D., Andrews, D. A., & Leschied, A. W. (1994). Tests of three hypotheses regarding the predictors of delinquency. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22, 547-559.

Hoyt, S., & Scherer, D. G. (1998). Female juvenile delinquency: Misunderstood by the juvenile justice system, neglected by social science. Law and Human Behavior, 22, 81-107.

Ingels, S. J., Dowd, K. L., Bald ridge, J. D., Stripe, J. L., Bartot, V. H., & Frankel, M. R. (1994). Second follow-up: Student component data file user's manual (NCES Publication No. NCES 94-374). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

Jenkins, P. H. (1997). School delinquency and the school social bond. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 34, 337-367.

Keys, S. G., & Bemak, F. (1998). Transforming school counseling to serve the mental health needs of at-risk youth. Journal of Counseling and Development, 76, 381-389.

Lauritsen, J. (1993). Sibling resemblance in juvenile delinquency: Findings from the National Youth Survey. Criminology, 31, 387-409.

Lawrence, R. A. (1998). School crime and juvenile justice. New York: Oxford University Press.

Lewin, L. M., Davis, B., & Hops, H. (1999). Childhood social predictors of adolescent antisocial behavior: Gender differences in predictive accuracy and efficacy. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 277-292.

Liu, X., & Kaplan, H. B. (1999). Explaining the gender difference in adolescent delinquent behavior: A longitudinal test of mediating mechanisms. Criminiology, 37, 195-215.

Maddox, S. J., & Prinz, R. J. (2003). School bonding in children and adolescents: Conceptualization, assessment, and associated variables. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 6, 31-49.

Mak, A. S. (1990). Testing a psychosocial control theory of delinquency. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 17, 215-230.

Mak, A. S. (1993). A self-report delinquency scale for Australian adolescents. Australian Journal of Psychology, 45, 75-79.

Maniglia, R., & Community Research Associates. (1998). Juvenile female offenders: A status of the states report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Maruyama, G. M. (1997). Basics of structural equation modeling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Meeus, W., Oosterwegel, A., & Vollebergh, W. (2002). Parental and peer attachment and identity development in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 25, 93-106.

Murry, V. B., Brody, G. H., Brown, A., Wisenbaker, J., Cutrona, C., & Simpson, R. (2002). Linking employment status, maternal psychological well-being, parenting and children's attributions about poverty in families receiving government assistance. Family Relations, 51, 112-201.

Myrick, R. D. (2003). Developmental guidance and counseling: A practicalapproach. Minneapolis, MN: Educational Media Corp.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). National Education Longitudinal Study: 1988-2000: Data files and electronic codebook system [CD-ROM data files and documentation]. Washington, DC: Author.

National Institutes of Health. (1989). Making health communications programs work: A planner's guide. Bethesda, MD: Author.

Newman, B. M. (1989). The changing nature of the parent-adolescent relationship from early to late adolescence. Adolescence, 24, 915-924.

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (1975). Development through life: A psychosocial approach. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2001). Group identity and alienation: Giving the we its due. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30, 515-538.

Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (1991). Teacher survey on safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools. Washington, DC: National Center for Educational Statistics.

Pepi, C. O. (1998). Children without childhoods: A feminist intervention strategy utilizing systems theory and restorative justice in treating female adolescent offenders. Women in Therapy, 20, 85-101.

Poe-Yamagata, E. (1997). Female participation in delinquent behavior is on the rise. NCJJ in BRIEF. Pittsburgh, PA: National Center for Juvenile Justice.

Quick Guide to Using the NELS:88/2000 Data. (2002). Base-year to fourth follow-up data file user's manual (NCES 2002-323). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Rosenbaum, J. L., & Lasley, J. R. (1990). School, community context, and delinquency: Rethinking the gender gap. Justice Quarterly, 7, 493-514.

Sankey, M., & Huon, G. F. (1999). Investigating the role of alienation in a multicomponent model of juvenile delinquency. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 95-107.

Smith, D. A., & Paternoster, R. (1987). The gender gap in theories of deviance: Issues and evidence. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 24, 140-172.

Smith, S. L., & Kerpelman, J. L. (2004). Reputation and girls' delinquent involvement. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Sprague, J., Walker, H. M., Stieber, S., Simonsen, B., Nishioka, V., & Wagner, L. (2001). Exploring the relationship between school discipline referrals and delinquency. Psychology in the Schools, 38, 197-206.

Stahl, A. L. (2003). OJJDP fact sheet: Delinquency cases in juvenile courts, 1999. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Steffensmeier, D., & Allan, E. (1996). Gender and crime: Toward a gendered theory of female offending. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 459-487.

Sugai, G., Sprague, J. R., Homer, R. H., & Walker, H. M. (2000). Preventing school violence: The use of office discipline referrals to assess and monitor school-wide discipline interventions. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8, 94-101.

Synder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (1995). Juvenile offenders and victims: A national report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Tittle, C. R., & Meier, R. F. (1991). Specifying the SES/delinquency relationship by characteristics of contexts. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 28, 430-455.

Tobias, A. K., & Myrick, R. D. (1999). A peer facilitator-led intervention with middle school problem-behavior students. Professional School Counseling, 3, 27-34.

Trusty, J. (2002). African Americans' educational expectations: Longitudinal causal models for women and men. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80, 332-345.

Tuesday, V. J. (1998). Girls in jail. Women in Therapy, 21, 127-139.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). Coming of age in the 1990s: The eighth-grade class of 1988 12 years later. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Walker, H. M., Colvin, G., & Ramsey, E. (1995). Antisocial behavior in schools: Strategies and best practices. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Wells, R. H. (1994). America's delinquent daughters have nowhere to turn for help. Corrections Compendium, 19, 4-6.

Welsh, W. N. (2001). Effects of student and school factors on five measures of school disorder. Justice Quarterly, 18, 911-947.

Welsh, W. N., Greene, J. R., & Jenkins, P. H. (1999). School disorder: The influence of individual, institutional, and community factors. Criminology, 37, 73-115.

Wright, B. R. E., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Miech, R. A., & Silva, P. A. (1999). Reconsidering the relationship between SES and delinquency: Causation but not correlation. Criminology, 37, 175-194.

Zhang, L., & Messner, S. F. (1996). School attachment and official delinquency status in the People's Republic of China. Sociological Forum, 11, 285-303.

Sang Min Lee is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. E-mail: [e-mail]

Sondra Smith-Adcock, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Florida.

Table 1. Mean, Standard Deviation, Bivariate Correlations, and
Square Root of the Design Effects Values of Research Variables
for Female Adolescents (Total n = 3,870)

                       Socioeconomic    Parental     Bond to
                          Status       Involvement   School

Mean                       49.53          2.42        2.88

Standard deviation          9.85          0.44        0.46

Socioeconomic status        1.0

Parental involvement         .27 **       1.0

Bond to school               .05 *         .27 **     1.0

Reputation                   .16 **        .19 **      .24 **

School delinquency         -0.04          -.09 **     -.18 **

                        Reputation     School
                                    Delinquency

Mean                      2.55         1.60

Standard deviation        0.40         0.41

Socioeconomic status

Parental involvement

Bond to school

Reputation                1.0

School delinquency        -.31 **      1.0

* p < .05. ** p <.01