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Updated: May 5, 2026

Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task
Published on: January 9, 2016
Delinquency as a symptom of adolescents' orientation toward status and success
1University of Bielefeld, POB 8640, D-4800, Bielefeld 1, Federal Republic of Germany.
Abstract:
In this paper, we follow the premise that delinquency in adolescence is a by-product of struggles with developmental tasks. In an empirical analysis of a survey of 1717 West German adolescents aged between 12 and 16, we found evidence that delinquency was associated with adolescents' conformity to society's standards of prestige and success. Data are presented that show a relationship between delinquency and inability to succeed at school, on the one hand, and failure to achieve full recognition of status and prestige in the peer group, on the other hand. The findings provide evidence that difficulties and problems connected with the integration into the network of academic performance, as well as difficulties and problems connected with recognition within the peer group, are associated with delinquency.
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