NCJ Number
200344
Journal
Youth & Society Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2003 Pages: 387-414
Date Published
June 2003
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This article discusses findings from a self-reported delinquency survey among high school and junior high school students in rural France.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test the generalizability of causal theory to a population of youths never before included in criminological research and to investigate the extent to which the behavior of these boys and girls could be explained by various causal arguments. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2000. The survey instrument was modeled after the one employed in the National Youth Survey and focused on two theoretical arguments (social control theory and differential association/learning theory). It was concluded that this survey lends further support to social learning/differential association theory as a universal explanation of youth crime and delinquency and possibly criminality as such. It seems clear that the same predictor variables explain their delinquency in the same way to a remarkably similar extent. Social control measures either did not form reliable scales or were not significantly related to various offense scales. Differential association with delinquent peers as well as positive attitudes toward deviance not only are interrelated with one another but, in combination, are important for understanding the etiology of delinquency among youths regardless of gender and probably other dimensions as well. Except for relative involvement with delinquent peers, the only variable on which girls and boys differed that was also related to delinquency was school involvement. Future research is needed to more fully address the persistent differences in delinquency rates between genders. 4 tables, appendix, 8 notes, 86 references