The Road to Skid Row

Abstract

sheets if they were willing to be interviewed about the questionnaire content. A few volunteers representing most major types of deviance were contacted later. The interviews revealed that some of the questions may take on somewhat specialized meanings in the college population, as indicated in the following notes. Females interviewed did not often engage in Dragging themselves but reported that they marked the item if they participated in Dragging with boyfriends or in boyfriends' cars. Trespassing appears to be mainly an offense directed against friends' families and distant relatives, and sometimes takes the form of merely walking into a house without an explicit invitation. Driving without a license is an early age experience primarily provoked by being too young to obtain a license. Property damage evidently occurs in frequent association with drunkenness, and planned, premeditated property damage appears to be unusual with this population. Use of a Fake I.D. for buying alcoholic beaverages is, of course, another younger-age offense since at the time of the study, 18 year olds in Wisconsin could obtain at least malt beverages. Sexual intercourse appears to be primarily an activity engaged in with one or at least few partners, and the partner most often is a fia ce. Keeping secrets from friends is g erally ra ion lized as being for their own good, in the sense that it often concerns somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend going ou with nother person. Staying out all night w thout parents' consent becomes a frequent act on the college campus where pare ts' consent in fact becomes irrelevant because of their distance. Use of threats tends to be an early age type of activity; experiences reported in interviews occurred shortly after puberty. Usu ping funds seems to apply frequently to parents' credit cards o accounts, and actual use of a stranger's account app ars to be quite rare. Hanging up for girls is closely associa ed with dating, but for males it may be associated with both girlfri nds and par nts. Kin-sex is both an early ag ac ivity and one that seems to involve more distant relatives, for example, cousins and half-siblings. Usurping c rs is an activity directed almost entirely at parents' or friends' property. Shoplifting tends to involve rather small items such as candy bars and small items of office or school supplies. Spee ing, like dragging, is for the fe ales frequently an activity in which they engage b cause of their association with males.