Are within-individual causes of delinquency the same as between-individual causes?

BACKGROUND Previous studies of the causes of delinquency have been based on between-individual correlations. This paper aims to study the causes of delinquency by comparing within-individual and between-individual correlations of risk factors with delinquency. METHOD A total of 506 boys in the oldest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study were followed up in seven data waves between ages 13.8 and 17.8 on average. RESULTS Poor parental supervision, low parental reinforcement and low involvement of the boy in family activities were the most important causes of delinquency according to forward-lagged within-individual correlations. Poor housing was positively related to delinquency for boys living in bad neighbourhoods but not for boys living in good neighbourhoods. CONCLUSIONS Forward-lagged within-individual correlations provide more valid information about the causes of delinquency than do between-individual correlations. Peer delinquency was the strongest correlate of delinquency according to between-individual correlations but was not a cause of delinquency according to forward-lagged within-individual correlations.