investigating the relationship between leisure activities and juvenile delinquency:the case of high school students in shiraz

juvenile delinquency can be considered as an important issue in the social sciences. also, the adolescents' leisure activities are important subjects which have been studied in the social sciences and humanities. this study assessed the relationship between leisure activities and delinquency among 610 male and female high school student in the city of shiraz. the questionnaire consists of two sets of questions regarding the amount of leisure time and delinquent activities. item reliability of leisure time is equal to 0.83 and reliability of delinquency items is equal to 0.88 respectively. the results show that there is a negative correlation between organized leisure activities and delinquent behavior. on the other hand, there is a positive significant relationship between leisure activities and unorganized delinquency. the results of the regression model with four variables (idle, gender, socialization and leisure time without organized supervision) account for 23 percent of changes in juvenile delinquency.