Friendship Networks and Delinquency: The Relative Nature of Peer Delinquency

Although acknowledging the importance of adolescent friendships in the etiology of delinquency, prior studies have yet to provide a detailed examination of the role of actual friendship networks in delinquency. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1995–1996), this study's incorporation of friendship networks allows for a more rigorous conceptualization and measurement of peer delinquency based on carefully defined networks of adolescent friendships. Findings illustrate that friendship networks are very heterogenous in terms of members' participation in delinquent behavior with the majority of adolescents belonging to networks containing both delinquent and non-delinquent friends. In support of differential association's premise that delinquent behavior is influenced by the ratio of definitions favorable to those unfavorable to law violation (Sutherland, 1947), the proportion of delinquent friends in a respondent's network is most strongly associated with respondents' subsequent delinquency. This relative measure of peer delinquency is preferable to a measure of the absolute level of delinquency occurring by friends, the average delinquency committed by friends, or the absolute number of delinquent friends. Enmeshment in a friendship network where consensus about the appropriateness of delinquency is maximized (i.e., all friends are delinquent or non-delinquent) most effectively constrains the behaviors of network members to resemble the groups' behavior.     

Behavioral Heterogeneity in Adolescent Friendship Networks

Criminologists’ understanding of peer influences has been greatly advanced by social network methods; however, relatively scant attention has been paid to improving measurement. In particular, research has continued to measure peer influence by averaging the level of delinquency within a peer network, thereby neglecting the role of behavioral heterogeneity. The present study seeks to advance theory and research into peer influences on delinquency by explicitly modeling behavioral heterogeneity in peer networks measured as the variance. Drawing on social learning and opportunity theories, we argue that behavioral heterogeneity should attenuate the effect of average peer delinquency on individual offending. Models using social network data from the Add Health were estimated predicting involvement in two delinquent substance-use acts (cigarette smoking and getting drunk) as a function of peer influences. The results are consistent with our hypothesis, indicating that behavioral heterogeneity matters. Findings suggest that future research employing network models could incorporate peer behavioral heterogeneity to get a more accurate portrait of the processes of peer influence.     

社会认同复杂性与认同管理策略探析

社会认同论作为群体间行为的解释理论是群体关系研究中最有影响的理论.由于群体地位的差异,当某一群体在认知、情感上产生对所属群体身份不承认或疏离和自卑时便产生了社会认同威胁.为应对威胁和困境,社会认同管理策略旨在通过不同的策略手段以期获得积极的社会认同,提高个体和群体自尊.社会认同复杂性与管理策略的研究有助于加强我国转型期各群体之间的和谐共生,消减个体认同的困境,促进社会不同群体之间的融入与和谐.     

Parenting Styles and Juvenile Delinquency: Exploring Gendered Relationships

We use the NLSY97 dataset to examine the parenting‐delinquency relationship and how it is conditioned by parents’ gender, controlling for youths’ gender. Generally, neglectful and authoritarian parenting styles were associated with the highest levels of delinquency in youths. When the sample was split by parent gender, authoritarianism held up across both groups, but permissive and neglectful parenting was only significant for fathers. Independent of parenting style, boys have higher delinquency levels than girls. The strength and magnitude of this relationship is nearly identical in separate equations for mothers and fathers. Parental attachment was not a significant protective factor against delinquency for either mothers or fathers.     

Opting Out: The Role of Identity,Capital, and Agency in Prison Visitation

An emerging body of research suggests that prison visitation has implications for better understanding inmate institutional and post-release behavior, but not all inmates receive visits. The goal of the current study is to document barriers to visitation from the inmate perspective and describe the perspectives of those who receive very few or no visits. We also describe how inmate perceptions of visits impacts the way one does time and negotiates subsequent visitation. Using data from qualitative interviews, we find evidence that inmates make willful decisions when negotiating prison visits that are guided by one’s sense of self and further colored by the perceived social and economic strain on families. Our results challenge the perception of a universally positive visitation experience, and introduce the role of inmate choice in selecting into and out of prison visits.     

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.     

社会管理创新视域下未成年人犯罪刑事政策研究

对于未成年人给予特殊的照顾和关怀是世界各国的共识。在刑事政策方面,多数国家都很重视对于未成年犯罪人的教育、矫治。我国在社会管理创新视域下,对于未成年人犯罪刑事政策应当从定罪政策、刑罚政策以及执行政策三个方面进行全面的改革和完善。在借鉴国外先进立法例的前提下,结合我国的实际情况,建立符合我国国情的少年司法制度。     

Violence and Sexual Coercion in High School Students' Dating Relationships

A review of the dating violence literature reveals a limited number of studies with high school students and few studies that investigate the contextual issues of violence, such as meaning, motivation, and consequences. The present study sought to investigate the extent of dating violence victimization in a New Zealand sample of senior high school students (aged 16 to 18 years) and the perceived reasons for the violence, emotional effects, disclosure of the violence, and relationship consequences. A questionnaire that contained both open-ended and forced-choice items pertaining to experiences of violence and its consequences was developed using material gathered from focus group discussions with high school students. Findings showed gender similarity in the extent of violence and a number of significant gender differences in the aftermath of violence, particularly in the area of sexual coercion. These findings are discussed in the context of future research and prevention of dating violence.     

Research on Parental Sensitivity, Trust, Intimacy and Adult Romantic Attachment as Predictors for Sexual Delinquency

Some important authors in the field of sexual delinquency stress the importance of inadequate attachment in the aetiology of sexual abusive behaviour. This contribution reports on parental sensitivity, trust, intimacy and adult romantic attachment in a group of sexual offenders (exhibitionists, child molesters and child rapists) and a matched normal control group. Based on the analyses, it appears that parental sensitivity, trust, intimacy and adult romantic attachment significantly differentiate between sexual delinquents and the control group. There is no significant relationship between the different categories of sexual offenders, except for the variable adult romantic attachment. Furthermore, it was found that parental sensitivity, trust and the adult romantic attachment style contribute independently to the explanation of sexual delinquent behaviour. The results tend to be important for the prevention and the treatment of sexual delinquent behaviour.     

Delinquency,unstructured socializing,and social change: The rise and fall of a teen culture of independence

This article delves into the connections between time trends in unstructured socializing and other dramatic changes in adolescence since the 1950s. Osgood et al.’s (1996) individual-level application of routine activity theory proposed that unstructured socializing contributes to crime by exposing people to situations conducive to deviance, and a large body of research supports this idea. Unstructured socializing has proven useful as an explanatory bridge that links crime and deviance to key social factors like age, class, and gender. The present article expands on two recent studies (Baumer et al., 2021; Svensson & Oberwittler, 2021), which showed that changing rates of unstructured socializing help explain time trends in delinquency as well. Based on time trends across many domains of adolescent life, I argue that changes in unstructured socializing were a manifestation of the rise and fall of a teen culture of independence from the 1950s to the 2020s. The effectiveness of unstructured socializing as an explanatory bridge demonstrates the value of focusing on ordinary, everyday activities for tapping into features of life that are consequential and that vary across social conditions.     

The Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales: Development and Initial Validation

This study describes the development and validation of three Attitudes Towards Male Dating Violence (AMDV) Scales and three Attitudes Towards Female Dating Violence (AFDV) Scales. These scales measure attitudes toward use of psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence, respectively, by boys and by girls. Eight hundred twenty-three students from grades 7, 9, and 11 participated in the validation study. All six scales have good internal consistencies. As predicted, students were more accepting of girls' use of violence than of boys' use of violence, and boys were more accepting of violence than were girls. The six scales were positively correlated with traditional attitudes toward gender roles and with each other, providing evidence for their construct validity. Higher scores on the AMDV Scales were related to boys' past use of violence in dating relationships and to their having aggressive friends, supporting their criterion-related validity. Higher scores on the AFDV Scales were associated with girls' past use of dating violence but not with their having aggressive friends, providing partial support for their criterion-related validity. Singly or in combination, the Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales can be used to increase our understanding of the development and maintenance of violence-supportive attitudes in adolescents of all ages.     

Effects of Trait Anger and Negative Attitudes Towards Women on Physical Assault in Dating Relationships

The present study investigated the combined effect of trait anger and negative attitudes towards women (i.e., hostility towards women, calloused sexual beliefs) on frequency of physical aggression in premarital relationships. A total of 263 college-aged men who reported that they were either currently involved in a romantic relationship or had been involved in at least one romantic relationship during the past 12 months were recruited. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Conflict Tactics Scale-2, Trait Anger Scale, Hostility Towards Women Scale, and Hypermasculinity Inventory. Correlational analyses indicated that trait anger, hostility towards women, and calloused sexual beliefs were positively associated with frequency of physical assault. Further, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both hostility towards women and calloused sexual beliefs moderated the relationship between trait anger and frequency of physical assault, such that in men who possess more negative attitudes towards women, higher levels of trait anger lead to increased physical assault. Results provide initial support for the role of trait anger in dating violence and suggest the existence of a subgroup among premaritally violent males who possess negative attitudes toward women and also possess a strong tendency to experience intense levels of anger.     

自含墨印章印文盖印时间受老化条件的影响

目的探索利用气相色谱法较精确、定量测定自含墨印章印文盖印时间受人为老化条件的影响。方法分别在恒温烘烤、紫外线照射、纯水浸泡等人为老化条件下,测定自含墨印章印油中所含有的主要相关溶剂成份的含量变化。结果得出了主要溶剂成份在人为老化条件下其含量的变化规律以及人为老化与自然老化的对应关系。结论利用气相色谱法可以对不同保存条件下自含墨印章印文的盖印时间进行测定,为实际相关案件的检验提供了依据。     

Subculture,Gang Involvement,and Delinquency: A Study of Incarcerated Youth in China

The purpose of this study is to examine youth gang phenomena in China employing a two-step approach. The first step is to apply the delinquent subculture perspective to the explanation of variation in gang involvement; the second is to investigate the relationship between youth gang involvement and self-reported delinquency. The data for the study were collected from face-to-face interviews conducted with adjudicated youth offenders incarcerated in a province-run juvenile prison. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the direct and indirect effects of delinquent subculture exposure and gang involvement on three outcome variables of delinquency. The primary finding is that exposure to a subculture of violence is indeed a significant predictor of gang involvement. Importantly, gang involvement is significantly correlated with both violent offending and drug offending.     

当前青少年犯罪成因及对策研究——以东莞市青少年犯罪为研究模本

目前我国正处于社会转型时期,存在诸多容易诱发青少年犯罪的不良因素,青少年犯罪的形势依然严峻。作为新兴制造业城市的代表,东莞独特的经济结构和人口构成使其青少年犯罪在数量、主体、类型等方面具有明显特征。"东莞式"青少年犯罪既有着青少年自身原因,也有着家庭与学校教育缺位以及不良文化冲击的影响,更有着产业结构形成的外来人口盲目涌入而造成的城市不适应性方面的因素。     

青少年犯罪成因心理学研究新进展

青少年犯罪问题及其成因是各国普遍关注的焦点,也是犯罪成因研究的主要领域.青少年犯罪的成因相当复杂,已经广泛涉及到了生物神经科学、心理学、社会学、经济学以及政策等层面,迄今还没有令各方一致满意的定论.作为犯罪行为产生的最直接的因素--心理层面的理论研究则是青少年犯罪成因研究中非常有特色的领域.近年来,青少年犯罪成因理论研究逐渐采取了科际整合的观点,结合各领域各个学科的研究对各类青少年犯罪进行研究.青少年危险模式包括了社区、家庭和个人等因素,提供了多元化的取向.我国的学者长期囿于传统的横断研究,鲜有对青少年犯罪进行纵贯研究者,需要进行青少年犯罪纵贯研究的尝试与探索.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Delinquency: DF Analysis of NLSY Kinship Data

This paper follows earlier research (Rowe et al., 1992) in evaluating the basis of family influences on adolescent delinquent behavior. Delinquency is measured in a number of different ways to account for important theoretical distinctions that exist in the delinquency literature. We use recently identified kinship structure in a large national data set—the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—to estimate genetic and shared environmental influences on self-reported delinquency scores. Our analytic model is based on DF analysis, a regression procedure used to estimate parameters reflecting genetic and environmental influence. Results suggest a consistent and moderate genetic basis to sibling similarity in delinquency and little evidence of a shared environmental basis. A large amount of variance is attributable to nonshared influences and/or measurement error. Our findings suggest that the search for environmental influences on adolescent delinquency should focus on those that are not shared by siblings.     

Police Bias,Social Identity,and Minority Groups: A Social Psychological Understanding of Cooperation with Police

The present study uses Social Identity Theory as a framework to investigate the collective effects of perceived police bias, ethnicity and self-identification with different groups on respondents’ intentions to cooperate with police in general crime control efforts and in counter-terrorism policing. Drawing on survey data collected from 1,272 individuals from three ethnic minority backgrounds in Australia, the present study reports findings including: (1) significant and large direct positive associations between superordinate identity and willingness to cooperate with police, (2) small-to-moderate significant associations between perceived police bias and cooperation with police (positive for Vietnamese subsample; negative for Indian and Arab subsamples), and (3) significant interaction patterns between subordinate identity, perceived police bias, and ethnicity. Findings are discussed with respect to community-engaged prevention and prejudice reduction.     

Trajectories of Delinquency and Problem Behavior: Comparison of Social and Personal Control Characteristics of Adjudicated Boys on Synchronous and Nonsynchronous Paths

In this paper we identify and distinguish two categories of manifestations of deviance, problem behavior and delinquency, and show that they often follow synchronous developmental sequences. Using data from a sample of 506 adjudicated boys, we investigate the difference between those with synchronous trajectories, in which problem behavior and delinquency follow similar developmental paths, and those with nonsynchronous trajectories, in which the two follow different developmental paths. Comparison of the trajectories shows that personal control variables, such as social maladjustment, value orientation, manifest aggression, and extroversion, are more effective in discriminating between trajectories than are social control variables from school, peer, routine activities, and belief categories. These personal control variables are often not included in studies of delinquency.     

Friends,Cognition, and Delinquency: Proactive and Reactive Criminal Thinking as Mediators of the Peer Influence and Peer Selection Effects among Male Delinquents

The purpose of this study was to determine whether criminal thinking underpins peer influence and selection. It was predicted that proactive criminal thinking would mediate the peer influence effect (peers?→?offending) and reactive criminal thinking would mediate the peer selection effect (offending?→?peers). Participants were 1,170 male delinquent youth from the Pathways to Desistance study. The Moral Disengagement scale (proactive criminal thinking) and Peer Delinquent Behavior scale (peer delinquency) were cross-lagged to predict criminal offending, and the Weinberger Impulse Control scale (reactive criminal thinking) and criminal offending were cross-lagged to predict peer delinquency. Consistent with predictions, proactive but not reactive criminal thinking successfully mediated the peer?→?offending relationship and reactive but not proactive criminal thinking successfully mediated the offending?→?peer relationship. Whereas delinquent peer associations appear to promote proactive criminal thinking and peer influence, early criminal offending appears to promote reactive criminal thinking and peer selection.