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Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
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Distress and Violent Victimization among Young Adolescents

Early Puberty and the Social Interactionist Explanation

Christopher J. Schreck

Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, cjsgcj{at}rit.edu

Melissa W. Burek

Bowling Green State University, Ohio

Eric A. Stewart

Florida State University

J. Mitchell Miller

University of Texas at San Antonio

This article explores the empirical validity of the Social Interactionist (SI) perspective as an explanation of violent victimization. An additional goal is to explain why early puberty among adolescents is connected to violent victimization. Using SI, we theorize that early puberty creates unusually high levels of distress for adolescents (more so for girls than boys), causing them to behave in ways that create grievances with others and provoke victimization. The research hypotheses were tested using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative data set of teenagers attending school in the United States. We found that measures of distress significantly increase violent victimization among members of the sample. Furthermore, the SI measures partially mediated the relationship between early puberty and violent victimization for boys and fully mediated this relationship for girls.

Key Words: violent victimization • puberty • distress

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Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 44, No. 4, 381-405 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0022427807305851
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