General strain and delinquency: An alternative examination of conditioning influences

One of the key assumptions of Agnew's general strain theory (GST) is that various factors condition the effect of strain on delinquency. Past research examining this question, however, has not revealed consistent support for this hypothesis. The accumulating negative evidence on the conditioning hypothesis suggests that the theory may need to be revised or, alternatively, that past studies simply were unable to uncover valid relationships because of the analytical methods employed. In the current examination, we use data from the National Youth Survey and contingency table analyses to examine whether the strain-delinquency relationship is conditioned by various risk factors such as exposure to delinquent peers, holding deviant beliefs, and having a behavioral propensity toward delinquency. The results reveal both cross-sectional and longitudinal support for the conditioning hypothesis derived from GST. Implications for future research on GST are discussed.     

Part-time Jobs,Delinquency and Victimization Among Finnish Adolescents

Among lay people as well as among scholars it is sometimes assumed that adolescent work deters juvenile delinquency. In contrast, existing research suggests that there is a positive association between adolescent parttime work and delinquency. This study assesses this claim and examines in a nationally representative sample of 15-16-yearold Finnish adolescents ( n = 4347), the association between work during the school year and self-reported delinquency and victimization, and explore whether the possible associations are general or based on some subcategory of delinquent behaThere viour/victimization. The results of multivariate analyses indicate that intensive weekly working is significantly positively associated with delinquent behaviour. When gender, disposable allowances and various factors suggested by control, strain and differential association theories were controlled for, intensive work (10 hours or more remained a significant predictor of the following types of delinquency: beating up someone, driving without licence, buying stolen goods, vandalism at school and drunken driving. Intensive workers' likelihood of committing these acts were about two to per week) three times as high as nonworkers' likelihood of committing such acts. Intensive work was related to victimization only in bivariate models, suggesting that the work-victimization association does not reflect direct causation. In conclusion, intensive work appears to increase delinquent activity slightly. Although we do not argue that work is a major cause of delinquency in adolescence, we suggest caution against encouraging intensive work during the school year.     

A serendipitous finding of a news media history effect: A research note

Drawing on Zahavi's (1975) handicap principle, we suggest that delinquency and other risk-taking behavior might be seen as evidence of positive, adaptive qualities such as nerve and bravery. Drawing on Akers' (1998) social learning theory, we also suggest that potential romantic partners might be attracted to such traits and that this romantic attention might reinforce delinquency and other risk-taking behavior. Using data from the first and third waves of the National Youth Survey, we test these assertions with a series of longitudinal OLS and contemporaneous-effects covariance structure models. Results suggest that delinquency serves to increase romantic involvement and that romantic involvement may provide vicarious, but not necessarily direct, reinforcement for delinquency among both male and female adolescents.     

Parental management,ADHD, and delinquent involvement: Reassessing Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory

A core proposition of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime is that ineffective parenting fosters low self-control in children, which leads to delinquent conduct. Using a sample of 2,472 students, we examined the impact of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on self-control and delinquency. The analysis revealed three main findings. First, low self-control was a strong predictor of both self-reported delinquency and self-reported arrests. Second, parental monitoring not only increased self-control, but had direct effects on both measures of delinquency. Third, the effects of ADHD on delinquency were largely through low self-control.     

ASSOCIATIONS OF FATHERS' HISTORY OF INCARCERATION WITH SONS' DELINQUENCY AND ARREST AMONG BLACK,WHITE, AND HISPANIC MALES IN THE UNITED STATES*

Nearly 13 percent of young adult men report that their biological father has served time in jail or prison; yet surprisingly little research has examined how a father's incarceration is associated with delinquency and arrest in the contemporary United States. Using a national panel of Black, White, and Hispanic males, this study examines whether experiencing paternal incarceration is associated with increased delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. We find a positive association with paternal incarceration that is robust to controls for several structural, familial, and adolescent characteristics. Relative to males not experiencing a father's incarceration, our results show that those experiencing a father's incarceration have an increased propensity for delinquency that persists into young adulthood. Using a national probability sample, we also find that a father's incarceration is highly and significantly associated with an increased risk of incurring an adult arrest before 25 years of age. These observed associations are similar across groups of Black, White, and Hispanic males. Taken as a whole, our findings suggest benefits from public policies that focus on male youth “at risk” as a result of having an incarcerated father.     

Contrasting psychosocial outcomes in Chinese delinquent adolescents with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder symptoms and/or reading disability

Many studies reported high prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disability (RD) among delinquent adolescents. Very few have examined their psychosocial outcomes. The present study compared the psychosocial outcomes and delinquency outcomes in Chinese juvenile delinquents with ADHD symptoms (AS) and/or RD. Delinquents with AS (n = 29), RD (n = 24) and their comorbidity (n = 35) were recruited from juvenile institutions along with typically developing controls (n = 29) from local schools; all completed questionnaire on psychosocial characteristics and delinquency outcomes. Participants with AS were associated with poor academic orientation whereas participants with RD were characterized with negative main effects across all psychosocial constructs being tested. The comorbid group performed similar to the RD group yet it exhibited a significantly higher delinquency severity. The present findings provide a better picture of the unique psychosocial profile associated with different groups, allowing for better matching for future identification and intervention programme.     

How child maltreatment affects dimensions of juvenile delinquency in a cohort of low-income urban youths

This study examines how the presence and types of maltreatment affect dimensions of delinquency and whether the relationship is maintained in the presence of sociodemographic factors. A prospective comparison-group design was employed, featuring controls on social class, race, gender, age, and urban residence. A cohort of 632 males from low-income families, living in one of Pennsylvania's largest cities, was tracked through the state's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Results indicate that the presence of maltreatment significantly affected the initiation and continuation of delinquency. Neglect was found to be a highly criminogenic factor. Race was not associated with maltreatment nor with delinquency.     

Escaping from the crime of inner cities: Church attendance and religious salience among disadvantaged youth

With the theoretical backdrop of social disorganization and “resilient youth” perspectives, we hypothesize that individual religiosity is protective in helping at-risk youths such as those living in poor inner-city areas to escape from drug use and other illegal activities. To test this hypothesis, we draw data from an interview survey of 2,358 youth black males from tracts in poverty in Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, conducted in 1979 and 1980. Results from a series of multilevel analyses indicate that church attendance (the frequency of attending religious services) has significant inverse effects on nondrug illegal activities, drug use, and drug selling among disadvantaged youths. Religious salience (the perceived importance of religion in one's life), however, is not significantly linked to reductions in juvenile delinquency. We discuss the implications of our findings, focusing on individual religiosity as a potentially important protective factor for disadvantaged youths.     

“The root of all evil”? An exploratory study of money and delinquent involvement

Modern criminological theory makes contradictory predictions about the possible effects of money on misbehavior. Strain theory suggests that the possession of monetary resources facilitates goal achievement and therefore reduces the likelihood of offending. In contrast, an anomie perspective would view possession of money as a prelude to greater drug use and delinquency. In this study we examine the effect of adolescents' resources—namely, money earned from work and received from parental allowance—on delinquent involvement and drug use. The results tend to be consistent with anomie theory, showing that money and its pursuit are associated positively with misbehavior. The implications for criminological theory are discussed.     

The Labeling perspective and delinquency: An elaboration of the theory and an assessment of the evidence

The labeling theory of deviance was extremely popular during the 1960s and 1970s. After a series of influential critiques, however, the validity of the theory had fallen into question by 1980 and was pronounced dead by 1985. In this paper we examine the application of the labeling perspective to one particular area, juvenile delinquency. We discuss the general theoretical origin of labeling theory in both conflict theory and symbolic interactionism, and use it to present two main labeling hypotheses: 1) that status attributes are influential in determining who is labeled (the “status characteristics hypothesis”) and 2) that labeling experiences are instrumental in producing problems of adjustment and in causing subsequent commitment to further deviance (the “secondary deviance hypothesis”). We note that what is often passed off as a critique of labeling theory itself is frequently a caricature of the theory. The major point of the paper is an elaboration of the full complexity of each labeling hypothesis, a suggestion for empirical research to test it, and a review of the extant literature. We suggest that labeling theory is not as invalid as its critics have claimed, and that what is needed is a restatement and revitalization of a labeling theory of delinquency.     

Perceptions of police-juvenile contact predicts self-reported offending in adolescent males

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that positive experiences with the police can foster attitudes of respect towards the justice system that can reduce an adolescents’ propensity to commit later illegal behaviors. To advance prior work, we tested whether this association might be stronger for those adolescents who associate with deviant peers. Additionally, we tested whether the link between attitudes towards police and the justice system, and the influence of peer delinquency, would be weaker for those with elevated callous–unemotional (CU) traits. These predictions were examined in a prospective study using a sample (N?=?1,216) of adolescent males who were followed prospectively for 2 years following their first official contact with the juvenile justice system. Positive experiences with the police following the youth’s first arrest were associated with less self-reported delinquency 2 years later, which was partially mediated by reductions in adolescents’ cynicism about the legal system. However, this link was only significant for youth with low levels of peer delinquency. Although CU traits were related to less positive perceptions of experiences with the police and greater cynicism about the justice system, CU traits did not moderate the associations among experiences, attitudes, and later illegal behavior nor did they moderate the influence of peer delinquency.     

Follow-up of a social skills training (SST) for juvenile delinquents: effects on reoffending

Objectives

To examine (1) the long-term effects on reoffending of an individual SST for juvenile delinquents in The Netherlands and (2) whether effects differ by demographic and offense history characteristics.

Methods

The present study is a follow-up of a matched control study comparing post-treatment effects of N?=?115 juveniles receiving Tools4U, an SST with a parental component, to N?=?108 control group juveniles receiving treatment as usual (TAU). Analyses were conducted separately for delinquents and truants. Effects in terms of recidivism were assessed using official delinquency data after 6 and 12 months and 1.46 years after SST termination. Percentage of recidivists, number of re-arrests, and violent recidivism were outcome variables.

Results

Overall, 39% of the juveniles reoffended, and there were no differences between Tools4U and TAU on any of the selected recidivism outcomes. Additionally, demographic and delinquency characteristics and post-treatment effects did not moderate effectiveness.

Conclusions

Tools4U was not more effective than TAU in preventing recidivism, which may be explained by a generally low percentage of recidivists. With established treatment integrity, and a lack of well-researched effective treatment alternatives, Tools4U could still be a reasonable treatment option for adolescent onset juvenile offenders, although more research is needed to confirm this.

     

A Sensitivity Analysis of Egocentric Measures of Peer Delinquency to Latent Homophily: A Research Note

Objectives

Egocentric measures of peer delinquency, obtained through a census of a social network, have become the preferred operationalization for examining the relationships between social influence and delinquency. Studies regressing ego’s delinquency on the delinquency of nominated friend/s (i.e. alter/s) conclude that a statistically significant coefficient provides evidence of social influence. However, the inferences drawn from these studies may be biased by the introduction of artificial statistical dependence as a consequence of using social network data in a regression framework. Recent work (Shalizi and Thomas Sociol Methods Res 40:211–239, 2011) shows that latent homophily, or unmeasured confounding of observables, may lead to nonzero estimates of social influence, even if there is no causal significance. To examine this possibility, sensitivity analyses have been created (e.g. VanderWeele and Arah Epidemiology 22:42–52, 2011; VanderWeele Sociol Methods Res 40:240–255, 2011) to determine the robustness of an estimated coefficient to latent homophily.

Methods

In this research note, I examine the robustness of estimates for social influence from two articles (Haynie Am J Sociol 106:1013–1057, 2001; Meldrum et al. J Res Crime Delinq 46:353–376, 2009) using egocentric measures of peer delinquency.

Results

Findings indicate that for large, precise point estimates, highly improbable conditions are needed to explain away the effects of social influence. However, less precise point estimates (i.e. large standard errors) are more sensitive to latent homophily.

Conclusions

The analyses indicate that studies using egocentric measures should conduct sensitivity tests, particularly when the estimated effect is weak and/or has a relatively large standard error. Scripts written in the free programming language R (R Core Team R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, 2012) are provided for researchers to conduct such analyses.     

Girls' Delinquency and the Justice Implications of Intake Workers' Perspectives

Abstract

This research examines the legal processing of girls in the context of intake workers' perceptions of girls' delinquency in a large southwestern county in which Mexican-Americans are the numerical majority. Using official records and in-depth interviews, girls' delinquency and the complexities of intake workers' perceptions of gender, ethnicity and social class are examined. With the exception of a low number of referrals for drugs, girls were referred for those offenses most common among girls nationally: shoplifting, status offenses, and simple assaults. Juvenile Probation and Parole Officers (JPPOs) explained girls' referrals in the context of family and other relationships. Girls were described as sexualized and manipulative. JPPOs identified white girls as privileged and linked this privilege to conflict with parents. Latinas were described as experiencing the most pressure toward traditional gender roles and a sex-based double standard. The implications of these data for juvenile justice decision-making and policy in this jurisdiction are discussed.     

Patterns of Self-Reported Delinquency in Children with One Immigrant Parent,Two Immigrant Parents and Norwegian-Born Parents

Differences in self-reported delinquency among adolescents in Oslo, Norway, were analysed with respect to immigrant status, gender and country of origin. The survey covered 11,500 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 years in Oslo, Norway. Delinquent behaviours were analysed and described in terms of prevalence and frequency. The findings suggest that immigrants are under-represented in minor deviance, with no differences in serious delinquency, but over-represented in violent delinquency. Adolescents with one immigrant parent had a higher prevalence of delinquency compared to adolescents with two immigrant parents, in all categories of delinquency except for violence among males. There were substantial differences between the various immigrant groups, with the lowest prevalence of delinquency among Asians. The study has demonstrated clearly the importance of including different categories of delinquency when studying delinquency among children of immigrants, and to carry out separate analyses according to gender and parent's country of origin.     

Same Routines,Different Effects: Gender,Leisure, and Young Offending

The current study seeks to extend routine activity theory by examining how gender conditions the relationship between leisure activities and adolescent delinquency. Using OLS regression with a sample of high school students from Toronto (n = 2,209), we find that (1) engaging in more unstructured and unsupervised activities with peers is associated with delinquency more strongly for boys than for girls, but is associated with substance use equally across gender; (2) this pattern is likely due to gender differences in the locations or contexts of leisure activities; and (3) prosocial leisure activities are associated with less delinquency only for boys. In general, routine activity theory appears apt at explaining the substance use of boys and girls, but is less capable of explaining the property and violent offending of girls. We discuss our findings and their implications for the growing body of research extending routine activity theory to explain gender differences in delinquency.     

The influence of low self-control on violent and nonviolent delinquencies: a study of male adolescents from two Chinese societies

Low self-control is theorized to be a key correlate of delinquency. Using a nonadjudicated sample (N = 1057) from Hong Kong and Macau, the influence of self-control on self-reported violent and nonviolent delinquencies was investigated using Grasmick’s self-control scale. The influences of demographics and self-control on delinquency were also examined. Findings indicate that these adolescents are more likely to engage in overall delinquency, particularly violence, if they are older and if they are less educated. Age is the only demographic predictor of nonviolent delinquency. Risk-seeking behaviors and self-centeredness have significant influences on both violent and nonviolent delinquencies, while low frustration tolerance and preference for cognitive activities are only associated with an increased level of violent misconduct. These findings highlight the overall significant influence of self-control on adolescent delinquency in Chinese adolescents. Suggestions are offered to enhance adolescents’ self-control as a way to reduce their tendency to involvement in delinquent activities.     

DELINQUENT PEERS IN CONTEXT: A LONGITUDINAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF SELECTION AND INFLUENCE EFFECTS*

In this article, longitudinal social network data are analyzed to get a better understanding of the interplay between delinquent peers and delinquent behavior. These data contain detailed information about the social networks of secondary school students from the same grade, their delinquent behavior, and many relevant correlates of network formation and delinquency. To distinguish selection and influence processes, a method (Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analyses, SIENA) is used in which network formation and changes in delinquency are simulated simultaneously within the context of other network processes and correlates of delinquency. The data and the method used make it possible to investigate an unusually wide array of effects on peer selection and delinquent behavior. The results indicate that similarity in delinquency has no significant effect on the selection of school friends when other network dynamics are taken into account. However, the average delinquency level of someone's friends in the school network does have a significant, although relatively small, effect on delinquent behavior of the respondents, beyond significant effects of changes in the level of self‐control and morality. Another peer‐related change, leaving or joining informal street‐oriented youth groups, also appears to have a substantial effect on changes in delinquency.     

Balancing power through law: The state v. the juvenile in delinquency proceedings

A content analysis of Maryland's juvenile court law spanning 1947–1978 posed two questions: (1) Had the state legislature redefined the juvenile court process in the matter of delinquency such that the juvenile received more power resources relative to those of the state? (2) Did the ratio of the state's and the juvenile's power resources diminish to the point of negligibility? Findings suggest that the court process may have been structurally revised without a significant change in the overall relationship of the parties in the process.     

An analysis of the relationship between jurors' personal attributes and decision making

Using a survey from a jury simulation study, this study examines the relationship between jurors' personal and social attributes and their decision-making behavior. The hypothesis is examined whether personal attributes and socialization of jurors have any significant effect on their decision-making behavior. The analysis suggests that personal and/or social attributes of jurors have little, if any, impact on their decision-making behavior. Instead, jury instruction and information about the matter appear to be major influence contributors. Additionally, evidence presented during the trial and knowledge of law have significant effects upon how jurors decide cases and give verdicts. Author's Note: Suman Kakar, Ph.D., is associate professor at Florida International University, College of Health and Urban Affairs. She conducts research in the areas of juvenile delinquency, child abuse, family dynamics, minorities, and the prevention of violence. She has published two books,Child Abuse and Delinquency (1996) andCriminal Justice Approaches to Domestic Violence (1998).