Class, Gender, and Arrest: An Intergenerational Analysis of Workplace Power and Control

• NCJ Number: 185104
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2000 Pages: 835-862
• Author(s): Christopher Uggen
• Date Published: August 2000
• Length: 28 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH 42843
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Minnesota; National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article tests whether parental and adolescent workplace freedom and control affect criminal behavior and arrest.

Abstract

Power-control theory posits that parental workplace positions affect adolescent law violation. To date, however, no test of the theory has directly measured occupational power and control. This study used data from a prospective longitudinal survey of 1,000 adolescents and their parents to test the theory. There were sex differentials in the effects of maternal authority position and parental freedom and control. In particular, daughters whose mothers held authority positions were more likely to be arrested than were daughters whose mothers did not hold such positions. The effects of adolescent employment also differed by sex, with perceived workplace power and control reducing rates of arrest among females but increasing them among males. The strongest and most robust finding of this study, and a potentially troubling implication of the research, was that young women whose mothers held workplace authority positions were more likely to be arrested than women whose mothers did not hold such positions. Further research is necessary to isolate the specific mechanisms linking maternal authority and daughters' law violations. Notes, tables, figure, references