Strangers in the Halls: Isolation and Delinquency in School Networks

Abstract

Although criminologists have long recognized the strong correlation between a person's delinquency and the delinquency of his or her friends, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. The current study adds to research on peers and delinquency by exploring the behaviors of adolescents isolatedfrom schoolfriendship networks. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) allow me to identify an isolated population and test theoretically derived hypotheses. Results suggest that low peer attachment in and of itselffails to increase future delinquency. However, isolation in conjunction with problematic peer encounters at school was found to significantly increase delinquency and delinquent peer associations. The theoretical implications of this interaction are discussed. Understanding the relationship between peers and individual delinquency has been one of criminology's most rigorously pursued and controversial research areas. Studies have consistently found that the delinquency of a person's friends is among the strongest correlates of his or her own delinquent behavior (Akers 1979; Gleuck & Gleuck 1950; Gold 1970; Haynie 2001; Hirschi 1969; Matsueda & Heimer 1987; Short 1957; Warr 1993). However, the causal significance of this relationship remains a point of considerable contention. For socialization theories (e.g., differential association, learning, subcultural, and interactional theories), delinquent peers are thought to be a primary mechanism whereby adolescents acquire the techniques, attitudes, and opportunities necessary for criminal behavior. In contrast, control and propensity theories question the causal role of peers in explaining individual delinquency. Researchers from this * I thank Ross Matsueda, Kate Stovel and the reviewersfor their helpful advice and comments on this project. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris and funded from the National Institute of