Deviant Youth Research Articles

Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents: Crossing the Bridge from Developmental to Intervention Science

Considerable evidence supports the hypothesis that peer relationships influence the growth of problem behavior in youth. Developmental research consistently documents the high levels of covariation between peer and youth deviance, even controlling for selection effects. Ironically, the most common public interventions for deviant youth involve segregation from mainstream peers and aggregation into settings with other deviant youth. Developmental research on peer influence suggests that desired positive effects of group interventions in education, mental health, juvenile justice, and community programming may be offset by deviant peer influences in these settings. Given the public health policy issues raised by these findings, there is a need to better understand the conditions under which these peer contagion effects are most pronounced with respect to intervention foci and context, the child's developmental level, and specific strategies for managing youth behavior in groups.

A collaborative research effort to bridge boundaries and support deviant youths in contemporary welfare systems

A collaborative research effort to bridge boundaries and support deviant youths in contemporary welfare systems

Youth deviance in Japan: class reproduction of non-conformity

Robert Yoder’s book is interesting for several reasons, not least because it quite clearly sets out to challenge a number of common preconceptions about post-war Japanese society that have existed amongst western commentators. The first such preconception is the notion that Japan is a uniquely harmonious (and as a result, crime-free) place. Awell-ordered society of conformist, group-oriented individuals has often been contrasted with the conflict(and crime-) ridden, individualistic societies of the West (usually meaning the United States). The second preconception is the belief that Japanese youth, although perhaps a little eccentric (as evidenced by manga, pokemon, otaku, videogames etc.), are somehow more disciplined and docile than western youth, and hence much less prone to misbehave. Thirdly, Yoder seeks to challenge the image of Japan as a ‘classless society’ where everyone is middle class, and in which inequalities of wealth do not exist. The idea that Japan is the kind of society that anyone placed behind a Rawlsian ‘veil of ignorance’ would choose to live—safe in the knowledge that even if they were to end up at the bottom end of the social scale they would be relatively affluent—is a powerful one that has largely survived the economic crises of the ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s. Finally, Yoder questions images of Japanese education, which has often been presented as a model of efficiency, uniformity and meritocracy. Yoder is surely right to target each of these ideas, as they are all deeply flawed, at least as empirical descriptions of contemporary social reality in Japan. However, it is perhaps worth noting the obvious difference in Japanese attitudes towards these constellations of ideas. Images of Japanese youth as docile conformists could not be further removed from current anxieties about youth crime, in particular, and youth more generally. Certainly, the news media (both serious and tabloid) abounds with stories of rising rates of youth crime— especially serious violent offences—and the government has responded with a number of controversial measures including reform of the Juvenile Law to introduce more punitive elements to the youth justice system. Concerns about declining standards of education, especially within public schools, are also widespread and form an important element of this more generalized moral panic surrounding young people. The most obvious manifestation Asian Criminology (2007) 2:71–73 DOI 10.1007/s11417-006-9019-3

Assigning Deviant Youths to Minimize Total Harm

A common practice in the fields of education, mental health, and juvenile justice is to segregate problem youths in groups with deviant peers. Assignments of this sort, which concentrate deviant youths, may facilitate deviant peer influence and lead to perverse outcomes. This possibility adds to the list of arguments in support of mainstreaming whenever possible. But there are other concerns that help justify segregated-group assignments, including efficiency of service delivery and protection of the public. Our analysis organizes the discussion about the relevant tradeoffs. First, the number of deviant youths (relative to the size of the relevant population, or to the number of assignment locations) affects whether the harm-minimizing assignment calls for diffusion or segregation. Second, the nature of the problematic behavior is relevant; behavior which has a direct, detrimental effect on others who share the assignment makes a stronger case for segregation. Third, the capacity for behavior control matters, and may make the difference in a choice between segregation and integration. We briefly discuss the empirical literature, which with some exceptions is inadequate to the task of providing clear guidance about harm-minimizing assignment strategies. Finally, we reflect briefly on the medical-practice principle first do no harm, and contrast it with the claims of potential victims of deviants.

Self-Report Weapon Possession in School and Patterns of Early Adolescent Adjustment in Rural African American Youth

Examined 345 6th-grade rural African American youth (189 boys, 156 girls) over 3 years with regard to carrying weapons in school. Recent investigations with nationally representative and urban samples have shown that carrying weapons in school fits into a larger pattern of problem behaviors, including aggression and substance use, which are supported by affiliations with other deviant youth. Very little work to date has specifically examined weapon carrying in rural African American youth. This study found that weapon carriers in the first year were primarily male, more aggressive, and had higher rates of substance use than noncarriers. Concurrent peer affiliations were not related to weapon carrying in the first year. However, among those who were not carriers in the 1st year, transitioning into weapon carrying was related to both individual marijuana use and peer-group aggression and marijuana use. Finally, over the 3 years of the study, weapon carriers tended to maintain their high levels of aggression, drinking, and marijuana use.

Performance, anxiety

Performance, anxiety

Threat transcendence, ideological articulation, and frame of reference reconstruction: preliminary concepts for a theory of subcultural schism

Schism is the division of a social group into two or more relatively distinct and sometimes antagonistic factions. Recent case studies suggest that schism is common among contemporary deviant youth subcultures. Explanations of subcultural schism, however, remain largely neglected. Thus, in response to theoretical deficiencies among existing academic literature, this article elaborates a conceptual foundation for a theory of subcultural schism. Building upon traditional and phenomenological theories of deviance, this article argues that deviant youth subcultures are collective reactions to commonly perceived moral or material threats. In turn, drawing upon theories of schism in new religious groups, this article proposes generally that subcultural schism occurs when intra-subcultural differentials in perceived threat cause internal subcultural social networks to galvanize respectively around alternate sets of subcultural norms, values and beliefs.

Associations between drug use and deviant behavior in teenagers

Confirmatory factor analyses of self-reports of drug use and deviant activity from 701 female and 662 male students in grade 10 revealed three correlated higher-order dimensions of behavior: alcohol use and sociability, rebelliousness, and deviant behavior including drug use other than alcohol. The intercorrelations between these dimensions were 0.548 or higher for both male and female students, indicating an underlying unidimensionality of these activities. These results suggest that drug prevention programs that curb initial and regular use of the gateway drugs may have a broader, spillover impact on other deviant behavior. They also suggest that programs aimed at both deviance and drug use are worth pursuing and that schools are an important venue for identifying deviant youth. The strong links between alcohol use and sociability underline the need to counteract the social acceptability of drinking and focus on the social contexts in which it occurs.

Residence, dropping out, and delinquency rates

Dropout and delinquency rates vary greatly across communities. The highest rates occur in urban areas with large underclass populations. The purpose of this study was to characterize communities along dimensions that supposedly contribute to the concentration of youth deviance and to compare rates of delinquency across communities with distinctive profiles. Zip code areas in a southwestern urban center constitute the unit of analysis. Community economic variables turn out to be stronger predictors than family variables. In addition, contrary to expectation, the association between dropout rates and delinquency rates was weak. Using a typology of communities classified by different levels of delinquency and dropping out, it was possible to differentiate among community characteristics conducive to each type of youth deviance.

Adolescent alcohol abuse and other problem behaviors: Their relationships and common parental influences

This study was designed to explore the relationships between adolescent alcohol abuse and other problem behaviors. Parental socialization practices, particularly support/nurturance, were also examined for common influences on both alcohol abuse and other youthful deviance. Interviews were conducted with a representative household sample of adolescents aged 12-17 years and their parents. The findings support the theory that adolescent alcohol abuse is part of a complex psychosocial problem behavior syndrome and that a high degree of parental nurturance may be a significant deterrence to alcohol abuse and more general deviant behaviors.

Disappointing and deviant youth and the rage of the elders

A generalized adult hostility toward youth derives from the complexities of the parent/child relationship, often mirrored in the helper/client and therapist/patient dyads. Parents derive considerable or little narcissistic gain from the accomplishments of their offspring, and conversely, are disappointed or even mortified by their failures. This is particularly true of narcissistically vulnerable parents—helpers and therapists as well—and accounts for widespread attitudes of competition, disparagement, and outright hostility toward young people. In the extreme, the pathological situations of emotional exploitation, incest, and physical abuse occur, but lesser forms of exploitation, such as personally gratifying advocacy, political gain, cultism, and enhancement of professional status, point to similar, but seemingly less destructive, forms of narcissistic gain. Youth may respond by conforming, defying, disappointing, and deviating. Adults may be either pleased, or enraged.

The Self and Youthful Deviance

The Self and Youthful Deviance

An ecologically oriented approach to youth deviance

In recent years the social problems of youth have been described in terms of delinquency and alienation. Social intervention programs with youth, however, have tended to focus only on the overt disruptive behavior of delinquency. These programs have been disappointingly unsuccessful, perhaps because of their overly narrow conceptual orientation. This paper reviews some of the major theories of delinquency from an ecological perspective, and relates them to an ecological view of alienation. The result is a preliminary sketch of an ecological theory of social satisfaction. It is proposed that common mechanisms underlie alienation and delinquency as negative socialization outcomes as well as penetration, integration, and achieved success as positive socialization outcomes. Some implications of this idea for understanding the behavior of youth are discussed.

Track Position, School Misconduct, and Youth Deviance

Track Position, School Misconduct, and Youth Deviance

Perspective on Youthful Deviance: Implications for Social Policies

Perspective on Youthful Deviance: Implications for Social Policies

Behavior Modification and Socially Deviant Youth

Behavior Modification and Socially Deviant Youth

Gangs, networks, and subcultural delinquency.

Major theorists have tended to equate peer-based delinquency and gang delinquency. Acceptance of this assumption hinders theoretical and empirical understanding of deviant youth cultures. Subcultural delinquency involves shared symbols-such as deviant values and speech-as well as behavior that is potentially noticeable by officials. Through the utilization of separate measures of shared symbolic deviance and interaction patterns, evidence is presented to support the contention that the cultural and social boundaries of a deviant youth culture have distinct referents and that the social unit of a subculture is most accurately described as a network of pairs, triads, groups with names, and groups without names.

Rehabilitation Programs for Deviant Youth

Rehabilitation Programs for Deviant Youth

The Juvenile Gang: A Cultural Reflex

In the past decade, American sociologists study ing delinquency have become increasingly concerned with the effects of class differences on youthful deviance. Class research stems in part from a research interest developed during the Depression, yet sociologists have not always been accurate in depicting class differences and in claiming identification of exclusive criteria of differences between class groups. Some of the results have been a failure to comprehend realistically the full dimensions of the changing class structure in the United States and a readiness to attribute forms of youthful deviance, including delinquency, to reactive compensations of working-class youths toward middle-class values and limitations of egress from a restrictive background. In what tends to become a relatively simple and unencumbered view, there has been a conspicuous avoidance of reference to pervasive behavioral practices of various types which characterize the culture as a whole. A significant result of this avoidance, apart from its deceptive simplicity, is its failure to recognize a variety of hidden variables in the dynamics of delinquency and in the identification of delinquent types. Unlike scholars elsewhere, for reasons which may reflect the current American culture mentality, sociologists in the United States appear to be minimizing significant facts of intergenerational struggle.