NCJ Number
187242
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2001 Pages: 1-9
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
February 2001
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the concept and implications of social capital theory in the context of examining factors that protect youth from involvement in delinquent activities.
Abstract
The concept of social capital is distinguished by its focus on the quality of the relationships between people. It identifies the family as a key institution through which social capital is transmitted. Much research implicates parenting in the etiology of delinquency. The article draws on the social capital perspective to test hypotheses that relate family investment in youth to the production of personal and social capital that, in turn, inhibits misbehavior. In using the National Youth Survey (NYS), it was found that family social capital produces the types of social and personal capital envisioned by Coleman (the author of social capital theory): reduced delinquency across time; moderated effects of misbehavior; and association with general positive effects across the life course. The quality of family interaction appears to generate sustained effects across a broad domain of behaviors. Youth who benefit from investments made in them by their family are likely to be attached to their parents, to hold positive social beliefs, to do well in school, and to avoid the acquisition of delinquent peers. The result, families high in social capital work to foster positive social behavioral patterns within their youth. The social capital perspective appears to inform the broader criminological debate surrounding the importance of social environment on developmental patterns. Tables, references