Reading Deficiency and Delinquency: Interactions with Social, Physical, Human and Cultural Capital.

Abstract

With data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), the present study examines the effects of reading deficiency on delinquency through a series of OLS regression models. Data are drawn from the NLSY and reflect a sample size of 1,262. While the effects of IQ have been analyzed extensively in the literature, less attention has focused on the potential harmful effects of reading deficiency. This study builds on previous work, and includes several assessments of 'academic' measures including IQ, reading comprehension, and digit span (sequencing ability) within the same model. Findings indicate that the addition of a variable measuring reading deficiency contributes to the prediction of delinquency. To further investigate the statistical relationships, interaction terms involving social, physical, human and cultural capital are tested. A path analysis is also conducted and reveals that reading deficiency could be also considered as a mediating variable between various exogenous factors and delinquency.