Social control theory asserts that strong social bonds inhibit delinquency, whereas weak bonds offer little resistance to offending. In the development of this theoretical perspective, new research suggests that the type and magnitude of social bonds have differing effects on male and female delinquency. This study adds to our understanding of how social control factors of parental attachment, involvement in diverse prosocial activities, belief in traditional norms, and school climate affect both young men's and young women's reports of serious delinquency and risky behavior in a sample of high school youth. Whereas previous research has generally either controlled for the effect of gender statistically or studied all-male samples, this article uses separate models to examine the independent effects of social bonds on male and female delinquency. The findings support the development of gender-specific analyses to understand how social control affects male and female pathways into delinquency.
Adler, P., & Adler, P. (1998). Peer power: Preadolescent culture and identity . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
2.
Agnew, R. (1991). A longitudinal test of social control theory and delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency , 28, 126-156.
3.
Alarid, L.F., Burton, V.S., Jr., & Cullen, F.T. (2000). Gender and crime among felony offenders: Assessing the generality of social control and differential association theories. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 37, 171-199.
4.
American Association of University Women. ( 1991). Shortchanging girls, shortchanging America. Washington, DC: AAUW Educational Foundation.
5.
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York: Norton.
6.
Austin, R. (1978). Race, father-absence, and female delinquency. Criminology, 15, 487-504.
7.
Begg, D.J., Langley, J.D., Moffitt, T.E., & Marshall, S.W. (1996). Sports and delinquency: An examination of the deterrence hypothesis in a longitudinal study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 30, 335-341.
8.
Block, J. (1984). Sex role identity and ego development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
9.
Bushway, S.D., Piquero, A.R., Broidy, L.M., Cauffman, E., & Mazerolle, P. (2001). An empirical framework for studying desistance as a process. Criminology, 39, 491-515.
10.
Cernkovich, S.A., & Giordano, P.C. (1992). School bonding, race, and delinquency. Criminology, 30, 261-291.
11.
Chesney-Lind, M., & Shelden, R.G. (2004). Girls, delinquency, and juvenile justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
12.
Covington, J. (1985). Gender difference in criminality among heroin users. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 22, 329-353.
13.
Datesman, S., & Scarpitti, F. (1975). Female delinquency and broken homes: A reassessment . Criminology, 13, 33-55.
14.
Day, D.M. (1998). Risk for court contact and predictors of an early age for a first court contact among a sample of high risk youths: A survival analysis approach. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 40, 421-446.
15.
DeVoe, J.F., Peter, K., Kaufman, P., Miller, A., Noonan, M., Snyder, T.D., et al. (2004). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2004 (U.S. Department of Education and Justice, NCES 2005-002). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
16.
Dornbusch, S.M., Erickson, K.G., Laird, J., & Wong, C.A. (2001). The relation of family and school attachment to adolescent deviance in diverse groups and communities. Journal of Adolescent Research, 16, 396-422.
17.
Dryfoos, J.G. (1990). Adolescents at risk: Prevalence and prevention . New York: Oxford University Press .
18.
Edwards, W.J. (1996). A measurement of delinquency differences between a delinquent and nondelinquent sample: What are the implications? Adolescence, 31, 973-989.
19.
Erickson, K.G., Crosnoe, R., & Dornbusch, S.M. (2000). A social process model of adolescent deviance: Combining social control and differential association perspectives. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 395-425.
20.
Esbensen, F., Winfree, L.T., Jr., He, N., & Taylor, T.J. (2001). Youth gangs and definitional issues: When is a gang a gang, and why does it matter?Crime and Delinquency , 47, 105-130.
21.
Garbarino, J. (2006). See Jane hit: Why girls are growing more violent and what can be done about it. New York: Penguin.
22.
Gardner, L., & Shoemaker, D.J. (1989). Social bonding and delinquency: A comparative analysis. Sociological Quarterly, 30, 481-499.
23.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
Giordano, P., & Cernkovich, S. (1997). Gender and antisocial behavior . In D. M. Stoff, J. Breiling, & J. Maser (Eds.), The handbook of antisocial behavior (pp. 496-510). New York: John Wiley.
25.
Gottfredson, D.C. (1998). School-based crime prevention. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park.
26.
Gottfredson, D.C. (2001). Schools and delinquency. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press.
27.
Gottfredson, M.R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
28.
Hagan, J., Hewitt, J.D., & Alwin, D.F. (1979). Ceremonial justice: Crime and punishment in a loosely coupled system. Social Forces, 58(2), 506-527.
29.
Heimer, K., & DeCoster, S. (1999). The gendering of violent delinquency. Criminology, 37(2), 277-317.
30.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley : University of California Press.
31.
Huebner, A.J., & Betts, S.C. (2002). Exploring the utility of social control theory for youth development. Youth and Society, 34, 123-145.
32.
Huebner, B. (2005). The effect of incarceration on marriage and work over the life course. Justice Quarterly, 22(3), 281-303.
33.
Jenkins, P.H. (1997). School delinquency and the school social bond . Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 34, 337-367.
34.
Kelley, B.T., Huizinga, D., Thornberry, T.P., & Loeber, R. (1997, June). Epidemiology of serious violence (OJJDP Bulletin). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention .
35.
Koopman, C., Rosario, M., & Rotheram-Borus, M.J. (1994). Alcohol and drug-use and sexual behavior placing runaways at risk for HIV infection. Addictive Behavior, 19, 95-103.
36.
Laub, J.H., & Sampson, R.J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
37.
Laub, J.H., & Vaillant, G.E. (2000). Delinquency and mortality: A 50 year follow-up study of 1000 delinquent and nondelinquent boys. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 96-102.
38.
Laundra, K.H., Kiger, G., & Bahr, S.J. (2002). A social development model of serious delinquency: Examining gender differences. Journal of Primary Prevention , 22, 389-407.
39.
Li, S.D. (2004). The impacts of self-control and social bonds on juvenile delinquency in a national sample of midadolescents. Deviant Behavior, 25, 351-373.
40.
Linden, R. (1978). Myths of middle-class delinquency: A test of the generalizability of social control theory. Youth and Society , 9, 407-432.
41.
Mason, W.A., & Windle, M. (2002). Gender, self-control, and informal social control in adolescence: A test of three models of the continuity of delinquent behavior . Youth and Society, 33, 479-514.
42.
May, D.C. (1999). Scared kids, unattached kids, or peer pressure: Why do students carry firearms to school?Youth and Society , 31, 100-127.
43.
Miller, K., Melnick, M., Farrell, M., Sabo, D., & Barnes, G. (2006). Jocks, gender, binge drinking and adolescent violence . Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 105-120.
44.
Miller, M.H., Esbensen, F., & Freng, A. (1999). Parental attachment, parental supervision and adolescent deviance in intact and non-intact families. Journal of Crime and Justice, 22, 1-29.
45.
Miller, W.B. (1978). Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. In B. Krisberg & J. Austin (Eds.), The children of Ishmael (pp. 139-154). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield.
46.
Nagin, D.S., & Paternoster, R. (1994). Personal capital and social control: The deterrence implications of a theory of individual differences in criminal offending. Criminology, 32, 581-606.
47.
Nash, J.K., & Bowen, G.L. (1999). Perceived crime and informal social control in the neighborhood as a context for adolescent behavior: A risk and resilience perspective. Social Work Research, 23, 171-186.
Patchin, J.W., Huebner, B., McCluskey, J.D., Varano, S.P., & Bynum, T.S. (2006). Exposure to community violence and childhood delinquency . Crime and Delinquency, 52, 307-332.
50.
Paternoster, R., Brame, R., Mazerolle, P., & Piquero, A.R. (1998). Using the correct statistical test for the equality of regression coefficients. Criminology, 36, 859-866.
51.
Pipher, M.B. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. NewYork: Putnam.
52.
Rawlins, W.K., & Holl, M. (1987). The communicative achievement of friendship during adolescence: Predicaments of trust and violation. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 51, 345-363.
53.
Sampson, R.J., & Laub, J.H. (1990). Crime and deviance over the life course: The salience of adult social bonds. American Sociological Review, 55, 609-627.
54.
Schafer, W.E. (1969). Participation in interscholastic athletics and delinquency: A preliminary study. Social Problems, 17, 40-49.
55.
Segrave, J., & Hastad, D. (1984). Interscholastic athletic participation and delinquent behavior: An empirical assessment of relevant variables. Review of Sport and Leisure, 3, 1-24.
56.
Thornberry, T.P. (2006). Membership in youth gangs and in serious and violent offending. In A. Egley Jr., C. L. Maxson, J. Miller , & M. W. Klein (Eds.), The modern gang reader (pp. 224-232). Los Angeles: Roxbury.
57.
Thornberry, T.P., Huizinga, D., & Loeber, R. (2004). Causes and correlates studies: Findings and policy implications. Juvenile Justice, 9, 3-19.
58.
Thornberry, T.P., Krohn, M.D., Lizotte, A.J., Smith, C.A., & Tobin, K. (2006). The antecedents of gang membership. In A. Egley Jr., C. L. Maxson, J. Miller, & M. W. Klein (Eds.), The modern gang reader (pp. 30-42). Los Angeles: Roxbury.
59.
Thorne, B. (1994). Gender at play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
60.
Toby, J. (1957). Social disorganization and stake in conformity . Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 48, 12-17.
61.
Valois, R.F., Zullig, K.J., Heubner, E.S., Kammermann, S.K., & Drane, J.W. (2002). Association between life satisfaction and sexual risk-taking behaviors among adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11, 427-440.
62.
Vold, G.B., Bernard, T.J., & Snipes, J.B. (1998). Theoretical criminology. New York: Oxford University Press.
63.
Welsh, W.N. (2000). The effects of school climate on school disorder . Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 567, 88-107.
64.
Wright, J.P., Cullen, F.T., & Miller, J.T. (2001). Family social capital and delinquent involvement . Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 1-9.
