Social and psychological consequences, at 10 years old, of an earlier onset of self-reported delinquency.

In this paper we will answer the following question: what are the consequences of an earlier onset of delinquency on competence several years after onset? Rather than studying the social and psychological predictors of an early onset, we will be interested in the impact of the age of onset of self-reported delinquency on the social and personal adaptation of boys at age 10, social and personal adaptation referring to the broad concepts of competence--"having the requisite or adequate capacity or qualities to function or develop in a particular way" or "sufficiency of means for the necessities and conveniences of life."