Forms Of Delinquency Research Articles

The Relationship Between Use of Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Crime Among Adolescents

This study consisted of a stratified random sample of 3,550 adolescents selected from 55 public school districts from a statewide population in the Midwest. The purpose was to replicate a previous study that tested the delinquency syndrome construct by examining the amount of overlap between alcohol consumption, use of other drugs, and crime using log-linear analysis. The overlap in various forms of delinquency also was examined according to age, gender, and race, with the hypotheses that these factors interact with the amount of overlap between the behaviors examined. In agreement with the previous study, the results support the delinquency syndrome, but they indicate less overlap than the delinquency syndrome construct suggests. Moreover, overlap between these forms of delinquency is moderated with age, gender and race; however, age does not account for enough variance in the multiple contingency table to be selected by log-linear procedures in the most parsimonious model. Implications of these findings for the syndrome construct are discussed.

A Gendered Theory of Delinquency and Despair in the Life Course

The paper pays particular attention to gender- and age-linked differences in forms of indirect, relational and direct, physical forms of delinquent aggression, as well as to sequential links of these forms of delinquent aggression to depression and drug and alcohol abuse. A power-control theory of the gender-delinquency relationship that draws attention to differences in familial control practices is then linked to these variations in the expression of delinquency and despair. We extend the focus of power-control theory to address how parental agency and support for dominant attitudes or schemas influence involvement in different forms of delinquency and despair. This extension emphasizes that differences in structure, particularly between more and less patriarchal households, result in degrees of difference and of kind in non-normative outcomes. The paper concludes with a call for increased diversity in the measurement of delinquency and despair and for the development of opposite-sex sibling samples to explore gender- and age-linked differences in non-normative phenomena.

A test of the validity of delinquency syndrome construct in a homogeneous sample

This was a study of 387 adolescents who regularly attended churches affiliated with a primary Protestant denomination in a Midwestern state. The purpose was twofold: (1) to determine if the delinquency syndrome argument has validity in a sample of religious youths, by testing whether the same basic theoretical models explained crime and drug use; and (2) to examine the relative utility of sociodemographic, social control and social learning factors in explaining these two forms of delinquency. The study finds that all theoretical factors investigated are correlated significantly with both crime and use of drugs; however, some of these factors are differentially related to those two forms of delinquency. Also, social control elements did account for more additional variance in crime than did social learning or sociodemographic factors. Implications for future research are discussed in the context of limitations of the present study.

Motivation and Delinquency

Motivational concepts pervade the classic theories of delinquency. And yet, there has been little detailed analysis of the relationship between motivation and delinquency. In this 44th volume of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, a group of leading scholars in a broad range of fields make up for that scholarly negligence, giving explicit and systematic attention to the subject. Joan McCord opens the volume by considering fundamental questions about relationships between motivation, explanation, blame, and free will, thereby developing a base from which she poses a theory of motivation for crime. Michael Rutter and colleagues review findings concerning factors ranging from social organization to behavioral genetics; throughout, they grapple with various forms of delinquency, from common misbehavior to persistent personality disorder. Gerald Patterson and Karen Yoeger's chapter on late-onset delinquency extends their influential work and illustrates the application of behaviorist psychology that Patterson has been developing for over twenty years. James Tedeschi examines juvenile delinquency from the perspective of his social interactionist theory of violence; this theory, based on the social psychology of interdependence, construes violence as a coercive attempt at social influence. Finally, Karen Heimer and Ross Matsueda compare the study of delinquency by social psychologists in the fields of psychology and sociology and present their own symbolic interactionist theory of delinquency.

Adolescent Violence, Social Control, and the Subculture of Delinquency

This study examines whether violence, rather than being an isolated subculture in itself, is a part of a general subculture of delinquency. It also examines the relationship of variables adapted from social control theories to violent behavior and non-violent delinquency. Using Icelandic data, the study supports the notion that violence is a part of a general subculture of delinquency. It finds a strong relationship between violent behavior on one hand and illegal activities, alcohol use, and smoking on the other. Furthermore, it finds that violent behavior is positively related both to violent behavior and to nonviolent delinquency among friends. The findings also support the argument that social control affects violence in a similar way as other forms of delinquency. Factors drawn from social control are significantly related to violence, and correlation patterns are similar to that of non-violent delinquency.

Whatever Happened to Yesterday's Rebels? Longitudinal Effects of Youth Delinquency on Education and Employment

This paper examines whether and how teen delinquency is consequential for a variety of educational and employment outcomes. From the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth we measure five forms of delinquency from 1979 when respondents were 14–17 years old, and investigate whether they predict five different outcomes when those individuals were aged twenty-five to thirty. We measure delinquency as the prevalence of skipping school, drug use, violent behavior, engaging in property crime, and contact with the criminal justice system. Using a variety of regression models, we explore whether delinquency has negative zero-order effects, and negative partial effects net of standard status attainment variables. We find that all types of delinquency have consistently significant and negative impacts on educational attainment among both males and females, net of status attainment variables. Delinquency also has a fairly consistent impact on male occupational outcomes, but has weaker effects on female occupational outcomes. Overall, the data suggest that delinquency has autonomous and negative effects on later life chances. We discuss these findings in light of links between status attainment models and theories of crime and delinquency.

Theoretical Model with Reciprocal Effects of Youthful Crime and Drug Use

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study of 1,093 adolescents from six public high schools was to see if a social control model with several reciprocal relationships between social learning elements and delinquency was useful. The same hypothesized model was applied to criminal behavior, alcohol use, and other drug use.Whereas the hypothesized theoretical model does explain considerable variation in frequency of alcohol use and of criminal behavior (22% and 24%, respectively), it does not account for much variance in drug use (6%). On the other hand, there are several reciprocal relationships in common across these forms of delinquency. The study clearly supports the need to formulate and test models with reciprocal effects. The social work implications of these findings are discussed.

The Monetary Value of Saving a High-Risk Youth

Programs targeted at high-risk youth are designed to prevent high-school dropout, crime, drug abuse, and other forms of delinquency. Even if shown to be successful in reducing one or more social ill, a key policy question is whether the cost to society from that intervention program exceeds its benefits. Although the costs of intervention programs are often available, the benefits are more illusive. This paper provides estimates of the potential benefits from "saving" a high-risk youth, by estimating the lifetime costs associated with the typical career criminal, drug abuser, and high-school dropout. In the absence of controlled experimental data on the number of career criminals averted, one can ask the reverse question—How many career criminals must be prevented before the program "pays for itself?" Based on a 2% discount rate, the typical career criminal causes $1.3$1.5 million in external costs; a heavy drug user, $370,000 to $970,000; and a high-school dropout, $243,000 to $388,000. Eliminating duplication between crimes committed by individuals who are both heavy drug users and career criminals results in an overall estimate of the "monetary value of saving a high-risk youth" of $1.7 to $2.3 million.

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND DELINQUENCY: RECONSIDERING A PROBLEMATIC RELATIONSHIP*

Employment is often thought to discourage participation in crime, but self‐report data from juveniles consistently disclose a positive correlation between employment and delinquency. This analysis tests three possible explanations for that correlation. The first is that differences in levels of delinquency between workers and nonworkers exist prior to employment. The second holds that working increases independence from parents, thereby reducing the controlling effect of parental influence. The third explanation, drawing on Sutherland's theory of differential association, is that employment increases delinquent behavior by exposing adolescents to a wider network of peers, including delinquent peers. Analysis of data from waves 1, 2, and 3 of the National Youth Survey reveals a positive association between employment and some forms of delinquency, especially alcohol and drug use. Selection bias explains much, but not all, of the association. Although no support is found for the parental influence explanation, the remaining employment effect is explained by exposure to delinquent peers.

Boys' Experimentation and Persistence in Developmental Pathways Toward Serious Delinquency

We expand on earlier work documenting developmental pathways in disruptive child behavior towards serious forms of delinquency in boys. Three pathways we hypothesized in our previous work: (a) An Authority Conflict Pathway prior to the age of 12, that starts with stubborn behavior, and has defiance as a second stage, and authority avoidance as a third stage; (b) A Covert Pathway that starts with minor convert acts, has property damage as a second stage, and moderate to serious delinquency as a third stage; and (c) An Overt Pathway that starts with minor aggression, has physical fighting as a second stage, and violence as a third stage. We now refine this work by distinguishing between boys who experiment and those who persist in disruptive behavior. Data are presented showing that the fit for the three pathways is better for persisters than for experimenters. Also, the proportion of persisters that enter each pathway at the first stage (rather than at later stages) is higher than that for experimenters. Penetration in each pathway was more common among boys who received a diagnosis of Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Boys' rate of offending increased with penetration into pathways and with persistence on more than one pathway. Boys' persistence and advancement in the Overt or the Covert Pathway was almost invariably accompanied by their advancement in the Authority Conflict Pathway. The classification of boys according to persistence and pathways accounted for the majority of high rate offenders, according to both self-report and court adjudicated offenses.

Delinquency in the wilderness: patterns of outdoor recreation activities and conduct problems in the general adolescent population

Based on a sample of 5412 Norwegian adolescents, this study identified two patterns of outdoor recreation activities. These patterns were differently related to three patterns of conduct problems that emerged in the same sample. Negative associations were found between an outdoor recreation pattern labelled ‘exercise/appreciation’ and the conduct problem patterns, whereas the associations between a pattern labelled ‘adventurous’ and the conduct problem patterns were found to be positive, although not strong. The paper argues that outdoor recreation is a very heterogenous concept, comprising activities that may take place in diverse social and cultural contexts. Some of these activities may in certain contexts convey meanings resembling those conveyed by some forms of delinquency.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION, SELF-ESTEEM, AND DELINQUENCY

ABSTRACT The impact of religious and self-esteem factors on delinquency has received considerable attention. Despite significant contributions, however, few studies have explored whether the combined effects of religion and self-esteem influence crime/delinquency. The present study examines (a) whether religion, self-esteem, and delinquency are interrelated, and (b) whether the interaction of religion and self-esteem, as well as the main effects of these factors, affects delinquency. Through an examination of 15 OLS regression models, the findings are twofold: (a) main effects of religion and self-esteem affect certain forms of delinquency, and (b) the combined effects of religion and self-esteem do not affect delinquency. The impact of religion and self-esteem on delinquency has received considerable attention. Much of this attention, however, has been devoted to one of two relationships: (a) the impact of religion on delinquency, and (b) the impact of self-esteem on delinquency. Although these studies h...

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDHOOD MALTREATMENT AND ADOLESCENT INVOLVEMENT IN DELINQUENCY*

Recent research suggests a link between childhood maltreatment and later involvement in delinquency. This study examines this issue using official and self‐report data from the Rochester Youth Development Study. The analysis addresses three central issues: the magnitude of the relationship between early child maltreatment and later delinquency, official and self‐reported; the possibility of spuriousness in this relationship; and the impact of more extensive measurement of maltreatment on later delinquency. A significant relationship between child maltreatment and self‐reported and official delinquency is found and this relationship, especially for more serious forms of delinquency, remains when controlling for other factors. The results also suggest that more extensive maltreatment is related to higher rates of delinquency. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

The Effect of Religion on Adolescent Delinquency Revisited

This is a study of 1,093 adolescents who attended public high schools in rural Arkansas; Little Rock, Arkansas; or Baltimore, Maryland. The results do not support the hypothesis that antiascetic behaviors are more affected by religiosity than are criminal behaviors. Nor does the study support the theoretical hypothesis that religiosity is an antecedent factor that has effects that are fully mediated through other more proximate elements of social control. It also finds few real differences in the effects of religiosity on various forms of delinquency between Baltimore, Maryland; Little Rock, Arkansas; and rural areas of Arkansas. Implications of the study are discussed.

The Subculture of Violence and Delinquency: Individual vs. School Context Effects

This article examines the subculture of violence thesis using data on young males (N = 2,213) across 87 high schools. Aggregate analyses show that values reflecting a subculture of violence have substantial effects on the level of interpersonal violence among high school boys. Contextual analyses suggest that the school subculture of violence operates through a social control process. A contextual measure of school values regarding violence has a direct effect on interpersonal violence, controlling for individuals' commitment to these values. These results contradict the usual explanation of how the subculture of violence affects violent behavior. Further, evidence implying that values regarding violence predict other forms of delinquency suggests that the results may reflect a subculture of delinquency rather than a subculture of violence. Finally, young males are most likely to engage in delinquency when they go to schools where academics are valued, controlling for their own academic values.

Developmental pathways in disruptive child behavior

AbstractDevelopmental sequences in disruptive behavior from childhood to adolescence are traced retrospectively and prospectively in two community samples of boys. Three developmental pathways are distinguished: (a) an early authority conflict pathway, consisting in sequence of stubborn behavior, defiance, and authority avoidance; (b) a covert pathway, consisting of minor covert behaviors, property damage, and moderate to serious forms of delinquency; and (c) an overt pathway, consisting of aggression, fighting, and violence. The overlap among the three disruptive pathways is examined. Those boys who escalated in the overt pathway were more likely to escalate in the covert pathway than boys escalating in the covert pathway showing an escalation in the overt pathway. Escalation in the authority conflict pathway was not associated with escalation in either the overt or the covert pathways. Boys' rate of self-reported delinquency was highest for those in triple pathways (covert-overt-authority conflict) or in certain dual pathways (covert-overt, covert-authority conflict). However, by age 16 the highest rate of offending was displayed by those in the triple pathways. The rate of violent offenses was also highest for those in the triple pathways and for those in the overt and covert pathways. Results from the rate for court petitions largely supported these findings. Lowest rates of offending were observed for boys in the overt and authority conflict pathways. Implications are discussed for clinical practice and future research.

Temporal paths in delinquency: Stability, regression, and progression analyzed with panel data from an adolescent and a delinquent male sample

Two topical questions in criminology are whether juveniles show a progression from less to more serious forms of delinquency and whether specialization in delinquent activities takes place over time. In order to investigate these questions, a self-reported questionnaire was administered to a sample of representative adolescents and to a sample of known delinquents; the questionnaire was administered twice at a two year interval, and transition matrices were constructed using an index of predictability (RIOC). The matrices documented instances of stability, regression, and progression in delinquency. Both samples showed a moderate stability, which varied by offense category. Over time, delinquency tended either to remain stable or to progress, with a lesser tendency to deescalate or regress. Escalation from minor to more serious offenses was more typical for the adolescent than for the delinquent sample, while the latter appeared to move over time to more diverse forms of offending. It was more common in the delinquent sample for individuals to continue in the same pattern of offending. Different paths in delinquency over time were apparent in both samples.

Delinquency, sidedness, and sex.

One hundred and thirty male and 213 female college students responded to a self-report delinquency and crime measure and to a scale of sidedness preferences. Consistent with most of the literature on official delinquency and crime, left handedness was positively associated with involvement in several forms of delinquency (including some degree of criminality) among males. Other measures of sidedness among males largely failed to correlate with delinquency, however. Among females, sidedness was much less systematically related to delinquency than among males.

Social control theory: The salience of components by age, gender, and type of crime

Most social control theorists do not consider definitions of delinquency problematic. Beginning with the assumption that “crime” is a unitary concept, researchers have combined a variety of non-normative items to create additive delinquency scales. Rarely is consideration given to whether the causes of crime differ for distinct types of criminal activity. Furthermore, the classic social control model doesnot predict that bonding variables operate differently for distinct age and gender categories. Consistent with the “structuring perspective,” the present research attempts to refine the social control model by specifying conditions under which the model predicts different forms of delinquency. This study examines social control theory using survey data from middle- and high-school students (N=2926). Logit regression analysis revealed that the model which best explains personal crime differs from the model which best explains property crime. Also, certain components of the model were more powerful predictors of criminal behavior for different age-gender groups. The importance of model specification is demonstrated and the implications for social control theory are discussed.

Ivy league delinquency: A self-report analysis

Since the 1940s, self-report technology has been utilized to improve our understanding of the frequency and distribution of crime and delinquency. Findings based upon self-reports have called into question the traditional class-based view of criminality. It is now apparent that middle- and upper-class young people are involved in delinquent activity, although the precise extent and nature of such involvement remains unclear. The research detailed in this report attempts to add to our understanding of class and illegal activities by examining a sample of Ivy League undergraduates for evidence of participation in serious forms of delinquency. It can be argued that such a sample is especially interesting both because these respondents represent the “best and the brightest,” and because they possess relatively advantaged positions regarding access to conventional kinds of power and success. The findings indicate that serious delinquency is by no means rare among these youth. Involvement in violence, however, appears to be relatively infrequent and weighted toward the less serious end of the continuum of violent delinquency. In addition, the delinquent activity of this sample was highly diverse. Even for the most serious offenders the results provide little evidence of offense specialization.