VIOLENT DELINQUENTS AND URBAN YOUTHS*

Violent juvenile crime is disproportionately concentrated in urban neighborhoods, and accordingly an understanding of the sources of serious delinquency is con founded by components of urbanism. These milieus usually have high rates of absolute poverty and relative economic deprivation, as well as weak social institutions. The persistent findings of delinquent peer contributions to delinquency have yet to be tested under conditions where social class and milieu effects are controlled. There is little empirical evidence to determine how adolescents in high-crime neighborhoods avoid delinquency despite frequent contact with delinquent peers. The differences between violent delinquents and other youths from comparable neighborhoods are little understood. This study contrasts a sample of chronically violent male juvenile offenders with the general male adolescent population (students and school dropouts) from inner-city neighborhoods in four cities. Violent delinquents differ from other male adolescents in inner cities in their attachments to school, their perceptions of school safety, their associations with officially delinquent peers, their perceptions of weak maternal authority, and the extent to which they have been victims of crime. Peer delinquency and drug“problems” predict the prevalence of three delinquency offense types for both violent offenders and neighborhood youths. Among violent delinquents, there appear to be different explanatory patterns, with one type better described by internal controls (locus of control), a developmental measure. Overall, there is strong support for integrated theory including control and learning components, and similar associations exist among inner-city youths as in the general adolescent male population. Despite the generally elevated rates of delinquency in inner cities, the explanations of serious and violent delinquency appear the same when subjects are sampled at the extremes of the distribution of behavior.     

Process-based model in adolescence. Analyzing police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency within a legal socialization framework

The empirical evidence on the process-based model of self-regulation shows that procedural justice evaluations and the perceived legitimacy of authorities impact law-abiding behavior. However, few studies analyze this theory from the perspective of adolescent legal socialization. The present study aims to examine the process-based model and other socializing agents such as family, school and peers that may have an effect on it. The sample comprised 2041 youths residing in Spain, aged between 13 and 18 years. The data form part of the Third International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-3). Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to predict police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency. The results reveal that police legitimacy perceptions are not only influenced by procedural justice, but also by parental monitoring, school attachment, and delinquent peers. Moreover, perceptions of police legitimacy, parental monitoring, and delinquent peers predict juvenile delinquency. These findings complement and add new explanatory factors to the process-based model.     

Assessing Correlates of Onset, Escalation, Deescalation, and Desistance of Delinquent Behavior

This article evaluates the utility of social development model constructs toassess the correlates of onset, escalation, deescalation, and desistance ofdelinquent behavior, from age 12 to age 15, using a dynamic classificationapproach. Dynamic classification places individuals into categories basedon changes in levels of delinquent behavior over time. These analyses assessthe extent to which specific constructs are associated with changes in thedelinquency status of individuals. Constructs of the social developmentmodel (SDM), including opportunities for conventional involvement, skillsfor conventional involvement, rewards for conventional involvement,proactive family management, bonding to conventional society, opportunitiesfor antisocial involvement, antisocial interactions, perceived rewards forantisocial involvement, and norms against drug use, were significantlyassociated with change in delinquent behavior over time. Many of theconstructs were particularly salient in distinguishing between youths whoremained involved in delinquency and youths who deescalated or desisted fromdelinquent behavior during this period. Implications for preventiveinterventions and criminological theory are discussed.     

GENDER,FRIENDSHIP NETWORKS,AND DELINQUENCY: A DYNAMIC NETWORK APPROACH

Researchers have examined selection and influence processes in shaping delinquency similarity among friends, but little is known about the role of gender in moderating these relationships. Our objective is to examine differences between adolescent boys and girls regarding delinquency‐based selection and influence processes. Using longitudinal network data from adolescents attending two large schools in AddHealth (N = 1,857) and stochastic actor‐oriented models, we evaluate whether girls are influenced to a greater degree by friends’ violence or delinquency than boys (influence hypothesis) and whether girls are more likely to select friends based on violent or delinquent behavior than boys (selection hypothesis). The results indicate that girls are more likely than boys to be influenced by their friends’ involvement in violence. Although a similar pattern emerges for nonviolent delinquency, the gender differences are not significant. Some evidence shows that boys are influenced toward increasing their violence or delinquency when exposed to more delinquent or violent friends but are immune to reducing their violence or delinquency when associating with less violent or delinquent friends. In terms of selection dynamics, although both boys and girls have a tendency to select friends based on friends’ behavior, girls have a stronger tendency to do so, suggesting that among girls, friends’ involvement in violence or delinquency is an especially decisive factor for determining friendship ties.     

UNSTRUCTURED SOCIALIZING,COLLECTIVE EFFICACY,AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR AMONG URBAN YOUTH*

Relying on extensions of routine activities and social disorganization theories, we examine whether 1) neighborhood social characteristics shape opportunities for the development of unstructured socializing with peers among adolescents, 2) whether unstructured socializing leads to an increase in violent behavior within urban communities, and 3) whether neighborhood collective efficacy modifies the impact of unstructured socializing on violence. The study outlined in this article uses three waves of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey and Longitudinal Cohort Study. Results from multilevel linear models suggest that neighborhood collective efficacy supports the development of unstructured socializing with peers. Multilevel Rasch models of violent behavior indicate that, consistent with previous research, unstructured socializing is a powerful predictor of violence. Collective efficacy exerts an independent influence on violent behavior and attenuates the effect of unstructured socializing on this outcome.     

A Life-Course Perspective on Stress,Delinquency, and Young Adult Crime

This study uses General Strain Theory (GST) to describe and examine one potential pathway of delinquency/crime escalation and de-escalation across adolescence and young adulthood. In particular, the time-varying consequences for delinquent behavior and young adult crime of persistent or increasing levels of strain are addressed using data from the Family Health Study, an eight-year longitudinal data set (n = 840). The results indicate that there is a positive association between experiencing one type of strain—stressful life events—and involvement in delinquent or criminal behavior during this period of the life-course. However, the impact of stressful life events on these behaviors is diminished among young adults. Moreover, delinquent/criminal peer associations attenuate the age-specific effects of stressful life events, thus suggesting that peers play a central role in the association between strain and these behaviors. Implications of the results for theory and policy are discussed.     

Role of family factors in adolescent delinquency in an Elazig/Turkey reformatory

Family is one of the most important factors in the social and psychological progress of an adolescent. Social behavior disorders in childhood have been reported to be caused by many factors that may lead children to commit a crime. Our study included a total of 106 convicted adolescents from Eastern Turkey in a reformatory and 126 unconvicted adolescents with a similar socio-economic status. A survey form was completed during a face-to-face interview and a review of official records was undertaken. The role of family disruption, education levels of parents, the rate of imprisonment among first- and second-degree relatives, migration as a family from their place of birth, and the number of delinquent children in the family were evaluated. There was a significant difference between the conditions in the families of convicted and unconvicted adolescents. Family factors play an important role in the development of adolescent delinquency. To prevent or decrease this rate of childhood or adolescent delinquency, there needs to be an improvement in the socio-cultural conditions of families.     

Do individual factors and neighborhood context explain ethnic differences in juvenile delinquency?

Individually measured factors and neighborhood context were related to juvenile delinquency in a community sample of 506 urban, public-school boys. Neighborhood context was measured with an objective, census-based score that classified neighborhoods as underclass or not underclass. When African American youths and white youths were compared without regard to neighborhood context, African American youths were more frequently and more seriously delinquent than white youths. When African American youths didnot live in underclass neighborhoods, their delinquent behavior was similar to that of the white youths. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that boys' hyperactivity and parental supervision were the strongest correlates of delinquency. Single-parent status and poverty/welfare use were not related to delinquent behavior. Once individually measured factors were accounted for, residence in underclass neighborhoods was significantly related to delinquent behavior while ethnicity was not. This study points to the importance of including the neighborhood context when addressing the social problems of African American youths.     

Inside the prison black box: toward a life course importation model of inmate behavior

The importation model is a venerable theoretical explanation for inmate misconduct but it has not been extended in nearly 50 years. The current study advances a life course importation model of inmate behavior where life events in childhood cascade to predict antisocial behavior during adolescence and misconduct occurring during periods of confinement. Based on data from 2,520 institutionalized male delinquents, ordinary least squares, logistic, and negative binomial regression models indicated that family background variables were largely predictive of multiple facets of delinquent careers. Negative binomial regression models of institutional misconduct indicated that proximal delinquent career variables were more consistently associated with misconduct than distal family background factors. Because institutional behavior can be understood as the importing of family deprivation experiences and chronic delinquency, the life course importation model is a useful conceptual framework to study crime over the life course, even including periods of confinement.     

Isolation and normlessness: attitudinal comparisons of adolescent sex offenders, juvenile offenders, and nondelinquents

The authors explored attitudinal differences among adolescent male sex offenders, juvenile delinquents, and nondelinquent youth based on three variables drawn from integrated delinquency theory: conventional attitudes, normlessness, and social isolation. Consistent with previous juvenile delinquency studies, the results indicate no differences among the three groups on conventional attitudes. With respect to normlessness, both the sex offenders and juvenile delinquent groups demonstrated more school normlessness than did nondelinquent youths, and adolescent sex offenders showed greater peer normlessness than did either nondelinquent youths or juvenile delinquents. Examination of perceived social isolation among the three groups indicates that sex offenders consistently perceived themselves as more isolated than other youths with their families, in their school, and among their peers. These results suggest that interpersonal factors, in addition to a lack of social controls and normlessness, are associated with sexually inappropriate behavior.     

ADOLESCENT VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION AND PRECOCIOUS UNION FORMATION*

This article bridges scholarship in criminology and family sociology by extending arguments about “precocious exits” from adolescence to consider early union formation as a salient outcome of violent victimization for youths. Research indicates that early union formation is associated with several negative outcomes; yet the absence of attention to union formation as a consequence of violent victimization is noteworthy. We address this gap by drawing on life course theory and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine the effect of violent victimization (“street” violence) on the timing of first coresidential union formation—differentiating between marriage and cohabitation—in young adulthood. Estimates from Cox proportional hazard models show that adolescent victims of street violence experience higher rates of first union formation, especially marriage, early in the transition to adulthood; however, this effect declines with age, as such unions become more normative. Importantly, the effect of violent victimization on first union timing is robust to controls for nonviolent delinquency, substance abuse, and violent perpetration. We conclude by discussing directions for future research on the association between violent victimization and coresidential unions with an eye toward the implications of such early union formation for desistance.     

DELINQUENT PEERS,BELIEFS, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR: A LONGITUDINAL TEST OF INTERACTIONAL THEORY*

Three theoretical models of the interrelations among associations with delinquent peers, delinquent beliefs, and delinquent behavior are examined. The socialization model views delinquent peers and beliefs as causally prior to delinquent behavior, whereas the selection model hypothesizes that associations with delinquent peers and delinquent beliefs are a result of delinquent behavior. The interactional model combines aspects of both the socialization and the selection models, positing that these variables have bidirectional causal influences on one another over time. Data to test for reciprocal causality are drawn from three waves of the Rochester Youth Development Study. Results suggest that simple unidirectional models are inadequate. Associating with delinquent peers leads to increases in delinquency via the reinforcing environment of the peer network. Engaging in delinquency, in turn, leads to increases in associations with delinquent peers. Finally, delinquent beliefs exert lagged effects on peers and behavior, which tend in turn to “harden” the formation of delinquent beliefs.     

SELF-CONCEPT, NEGATIVE FAMILY AFFECT, AND DELINQUENCY: A Comparison Across Mexican Social Classes

Using a semistructured measure to minimize cross-cultural biases, we examined the relationship between negative self and family-other affect and delinquency among 135 Mexican families of varying social class. The results indicated that: (a) both processed and released delinquent youths and their parents evaluated themselves more negatively than nondelinquent youths and their parents; (b) appraisals in the families of processed and released delinquents did not differ appreciably; (c) migrant families tended to manifest the most negativity and lower-class families the least, with middle-class families in between; and (d) socioeconomic status did not predict the relationship between family hostility and delinquency. The results are seen as providing more support for the family control theory of delinquency than for processing-labeling theory.     

SOCIOLOGICAL AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENTAL EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME: CONFLICT OR CONSENSUS?*

This paper examines multidisciplinary correlates of delinquency in an attempt to integrate sociological and environmental theories of crime with human developmental and biological explanations of crime. Structural equation models are applied to assess links among biological. psychological, and environmental variables collected prospectively from birth through age 17 on a sample of 800 black children at high risk for learning and behavioral disorders. Results show that for both males and females, aggression and disciplinary problems in school during adolescence are the strongest predictors of repeat offense behavior. Whereas school achievement and family income and stability are also significant predictors of delinquency for males, early physical development is the next strongest predictor for females. Results indicate that some effects on delinquency also vary during different ages. It is suggested that behavioral and learning disorders have both sociological and developmental correlates and that adequate educational resources are necessary to ensure channels of “legitimate opportunities” for high -risk youths.     

AGE,PEERS, AND DELINQUENCY*

Hirschi and Gottfredson (1983; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) have argued that the age distribution of crime cannot be explained by any known variables. and they point specifically to the failure of sociological theories to explain this phenomenon. This paper examines a quintessentially sociological theory of crime—differential association—and evaluates its ability to explain the age distribution of crime. Analysis of data from the National Youth Survey on persons aged 11–21 reveals that peer relations (exposure to delinquent peers, time spent with peers, loyalty to peers) change dramatically over this age span, following much the same pattern as crime itself When measures of peer influence are controlled, the effects of age on self-reported delinquency are largely rendered insignificant. Additional analyses show that delinquent friends tend to be “sticky” friends (once acquired, they are not quickly lost) and that Sutherland's arguments concerning the duration and priority of delinquent associations are only partially correct.     

MODELING MEDIATION IN THE ETIOLOGY OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENCE: A TEST OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL*

The social development model seeks to explain human behavior through specification of predictive and mediating developmental relationships. It incorporates the effects of empirical predictors (“risk factors” and “protective factors”) for antisocial behavior and seeks to synthesize the most strongly supported propositions of control theory, social learning theory, and differential association theory. This article examines the fit of the social development model using constructs measured at ages 10, 13, 14, and 16 to predict violent behavior at age 18. The sample of 808 is from the longitudinal panel of the Seattle Social Development Project, which in 1985 surveyed fifth‐grade students from schools serving high crime neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to examine the fit of the model to the data. The model fit the data (CFI ≥.90, RMSEA ≤.05). We conclude that the social development model adequately predicts violence at age 18 and mediates much of the effect of prior violence. Implications for theory and for prevention are discussed.     

Protective processes: the function of young people's implicit theories of crime in offending behaviour

Abstract

Despite development in high-risk environments, many youths are resilient and do not engage in antisocial behaviour and crime. Research on human traits such as intelligence and morality, suggest that the implicit theories (ITs) people have about the controllability of their behaviour, as either fixed (entity beliefs) or malleable (incremental beliefs) may play a part in successful behavioural outcomes. Using this as a framework, the function of ITs about crime in successful adolescent development was investigated among 422 ‘at-risk’ youths. Incremental ITs of criminality were found to significantly predict less self-reported involvement in youth offending, controlling for academic attainment. Entity ITs, conversely, were associated with an increased rate of participation in deviant behaviour. Further analysis revealed that incremental ITs of criminality moderated the negative effects of associating with delinquent peers on adolescent behaviour. The results demonstrate the direct and indirect protective function of incremental ITs of criminality for youths at risk and highlight the value of investigating further the protective processes that are involved in preventing youth crime.     

A TEST OF LATENT TRAIT VERSUS LIFECOURSE PERSPECTIVES ON THE STABILITY OF ADOLESCENT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR*

Latent trait and life-course theories provide contrasting interpretations of the well-established finding that childhood antisocial behavior often precedes adolescent conduct problems and adult crime. Longitudinal data from 179 boys and their parents were used to test hypotheses derived from the two theoretical perspectives. The findings largely supported the life-course view. Oppositional behavior during late childhood predicted reductions in quality of parenting and school commitment and increased affiliation with deviant peers. These changes, in turn, predicted conduct problems during early adolescence. Although there was a moderately strong bivariate correlation between childhood antisocial behavior and adolescent conduct problems, there was no longer an association between these constructs when the effects of parenting, school, and peers were taken into account. Further, there was evidence that improved parenting, increased school commitment, or reduced affiliation with deviant peers lowered the probability that boys who were oppositional during childhood would graduate to delinquency and drug use during adolescence. Together, these findings suggest that the correlation between childhood and adolescent deviant behavior reflects a developmental process rather than a latent antisocial trait.     

AGE DIFFERENCES IN DELINQUENCY: A TEST OF THEORY*

This study tests an integrated theoretical model of delinquency on a representative sample of 341 male New Jersey adolescents. The model is a modified version of Hirschi's control theory that integrates, in part, cultural deviance theory. This study addresses two questions: (1) how well does the theory explain delinquency within different adolescent age groups? and (2) does the salience of individual components in the model differ from one age group to another? Path analysis indicates that parameter estimates vary substantially across age groups The influence of parents and the school peak considerably in midadolescence while the influence of delinquent companions is greatest among the oldest male group. The findings indicate that the processes related to delinquency change considerably as youths age through adolescence, thus implying that the issue of “age generalizability” warrants greater attention than presently given in delinquency theory and research.