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Academic and demographic variables as predictors of gang activity in school

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Date Issued:
1995
Summary:
A two-group predictive discriminant analysis was used to develop a model to predict youth gang activity among students in an urban school district in south central United States. The predictors were selected from age, race, gender, grade repeats, reading comprehension achievement test scores, and changes in school and school district (uprootedness). Data were obtained from elementary school records of 285 grade nine students (151 male and 134 female) in two junior high schools. Ethnic minorities comprised 75.4% of the sample. Gang involvement data were provided by the school district security department. Data were analyzed using SPSS-X and a FORTRAN computer program by Morris and Meshbane (1995). All possible subsets of predictor variables were examined using leave-one-out cross-validation accuracy estimates. Although no models classified both gang and nongang students with greater accuracy than proportional chance expectations, a model consisting of gender, grade repeats, and school and school district changes (uprootedness) yielded significant classification accuracy for gang students, (z = 12.07, p <.05).
Title: Academic and demographic variables as predictors of gang activity in school.
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Name(s): Thornton, Linda H.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
Morris, John D., Thesis Advisor
Gray, Mary B., Thesis Advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1995
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 76 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: A two-group predictive discriminant analysis was used to develop a model to predict youth gang activity among students in an urban school district in south central United States. The predictors were selected from age, race, gender, grade repeats, reading comprehension achievement test scores, and changes in school and school district (uprootedness). Data were obtained from elementary school records of 285 grade nine students (151 male and 134 female) in two junior high schools. Ethnic minorities comprised 75.4% of the sample. Gang involvement data were provided by the school district security department. Data were analyzed using SPSS-X and a FORTRAN computer program by Morris and Meshbane (1995). All possible subsets of predictor variables were examined using leave-one-out cross-validation accuracy estimates. Although no models classified both gang and nongang students with greater accuracy than proportional chance expectations, a model consisting of gender, grade repeats, and school and school district changes (uprootedness) yielded significant classification accuracy for gang students, (z = 12.07, p <.05).
Identifier: 12429 (digitool), FADT12429 (IID), fau:9324 (fedora)
Note(s): Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1995.
Subject(s): Gangs--United States
Juvenile delinquency
School violence
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12429
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.