NCJ Number
158296
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1995) Pages: 446-466
Date Published
1995
Length
21 pages
Annotation
A study of 1,093 adolescents who attended public high schools in rural Arkansas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Baltimore, Maryland, was conducted to assess the effects of religion on adolescent delinquency.
Abstract
The study sample consisted of 46 percent males and 54 percent females, and the racial composition was 59 percent white, 36 percent black, 2 percent Hispanic, 0.8 percent Asian, and 2.1 percent other. The age of respondents ranged from 13 to 20 years, with an average age of 16 years. Religiosity was measured with an instrument containing scales on church attendance, time in prayer, activity in church, financial contribution to church, joys and problems of religious life, talk about religion with family and friends, and efforts to convert someone. Study findings did not support the hypothesis that antiascetic behaviors were more affected by religiosity than criminal behaviors. In addition, study findings did not support the theoretical hypothesis that religiosity was an antecedent factor with effects fully mediated through other more proximate elements of social control. The study also failed to find few real differences in effects of religiosity among the different geographic areas. Additional study data are appended. 77 references and 7 tables