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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study by Agnew was to examine the mediating effects of other theoretical perspectives in the relationship between social control variables and delinquency.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi-experimental design was employed. Secondary data from the first wave of the Youth in Transition Survey was used for the analysis. The data included information on a representative sample of 10th grade boys in public high schools in the contiguous United States (N=2,213). The data also included measures of social control variables, anger/frustration, and delinquency.
The analysis focused on four measures central to Hirshi's social control theory, parental attachment, school attachment, dating, and belief. A nine-item scale provided an anger/frustration score where a high score indicated that youth easily lost their tempers, carried chips on their shoulders, were irritated by small things, etc. Two measures of delinquency were used, a 26 item scale of total delinquency and a 10 item scale of serious delinquency. The total delinquency scale included acts of aggression, theft, vandalism, and status offenses. The serious delinquency scale included acts of serious and minor theft, robbery, arson, and serious fighting.
Three hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis stated that the effect anger/frustration would have on delinquency would vary. The second hypothesis was that social control variables would influence anger/frustration, and that the anger/frustration would mediate the effect of social control variables on delinquency. The last hypothesis proposed that anger/frustration would interact with social control variables to effect delinquency.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Initial analysis found that all the social control variables had a significant (p<.01) effect on delinquency. When the interaction term between anger/frustration and social control was included in the model, it was found that the interaction term had a significant effect on delinquency and that both social control and anger/frustration continued to have significant independent effects on delinquency. The effect of the interaction suggested that as anger/frustration increased, social control had a greater negative effect on delinquency. Thus, the effect of social control variables on delinquency were partly mediated by anger/frustration, and the effects of attachment to school and parents, dating and beliefs on delinquency were greater among highly angry and frustrated individuals.
Including the differential association perspective in the model provided more insight on the effects of social control variables. The results suggested that social control continued to have a negative effect on delinquency, but the effect of delinquent peers was twice as strong as the effect of social control. When the interaction term between the two variables was included in the model the results suggested that social control had a greater negative effect on delinquency when the association with delinquent peers was high. However, when association with delinquent peers was low, social control did not have an effect on general delinquency and only a small effect on index delinquency. Thus, the author suggested that social control only effected delinquency in the presence of delinquent peers. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Social Control Theory
KW - Peer Influence
KW - Peer Relations
KW - Parent Child Relations
KW - Family Attachment
KW - Family Relations
KW - School Attachment
KW - Juvenile Anger
KW - Frustration
KW - Anger Effects
KW - Juvenile Crime
KW - Crime Causes
Language: en |