NCJ Number
146974
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1994) Pages: 32-61
Date Published
1994
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This longitudinal study, which examined the relationship between class and delinquency, used a sample of 782 adolescents in Rochester, New York, for whom four waves of interviews were completed with both students and their parents.
Abstract
While the sample overrepresented adolescents at risk, the full range of the city's social class structure was represented. Class and delinquency were measured in two ways: the first included a measure of class based on status attainment and an omnibus measure of delinquency, and the second measured class using indicators of sustained underclass status and delinquency as repeated involvement in serious street offenses. The findings showed that measures of class based on status attainment were not strongly related to delinquency. However, when class was measured in terms of underclass concepts, there was an inverse relationship for the more serious street crime indexes. The findings also showed no relationship between general delinquency and class in the cross-sectional analyses. However, when delinquency was measured in terms of more serious street crimes, there was a consistent inverse relationship with respect to the underclass measures. These inverse relationships were strengthened when a longitudinal perspective was added to the analysis. 4 tables, 7 notes, 61 references, and 1 appendix