African American Male Adolescents' Involvement in the Criminal Justice System: The Criterion Validity of Self-Report Measures in a Prospective Study

This study examined the criterion validity of self-report measures of involvement in the criminal justice system and delinquent behavior in a cohort of African American male adolescents. Audiocassette-recorded questionnaires and audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) methods were used to collect four rounds of self-report data. Juvenile and adult court records were used as criterion measures. Con-current validity analyses indicated that adolescents who reported contact with the criminal justice system were 5 to 15 times as likely to have a court record as adolescents who did not report contact with the criminal justice system. Predictive validity analyses indicated that adolescents who reported prior contact with the criminal justice system or delinquent behavior were about twice as likely to have future court records as adolescents who did not report prior contact with the criminal justice system or delinquent behavior. These findings suggest that audiocassette or ACASI interviewing methods used with African American male adolescents can yield self-report measures with a fairly high degree of criterion validity.