In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi attempts to state and test a theory of delinquency, seeing in the delinquent a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspirations, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within the law. In prominent alternative theories, the delinquent appears either as a frustrated striver forced into delinquency by his acceptance of the goals common to us all, or as an innocent foreigner attempting to obey the rules of a society that is not in position to make the law or define conduct as good or evil. Hirschi analyzes a large body of data on delinquency collected in Western Contra Costa County, California, contrasting throughout the assumptions of the strain, control, and cultural deviance theories. He outlines the assumptions of these theories and discusses the logical and empirical difficulties attributed to each of them. Then draws from sources an outline of social control theory, the theory that informs the subsequent analysis and which is advocated here. Often listed as a "Citation Classic," Causes of Delinquency retains its force and cogency with age. It is an important volume and a necessary addition to the libraries of sociologists, criminologists, scholars and students in the area of delinquency.

Causes of delinquency

Research on dropping out of school has focused on characteristics of the individual or institution that correlate with the dropout decision. Many of these characteristics are nonmanipulable, and all are measured at one point in time, late in the youngster’s school career. This paper describes two models for understanding dropping out as a developmental process that may begin in the earliest grades. The frustration-self-esteem model has been used for years in the study of juvenile delinquency; it identifies school failure as the starting point in a cycle that may culminate in the student’s rejecting, or being rejected by, the school. The participation-identification model focuses on students’ “involvement in schooling,” with both behavioral and emotional components. According to this formulation, the likelihood that a youngster will successfully complete 12 years of schooling is maximized if he or she maintains multiple, expanding forms of participation in school-relevant activities. The failure of a young...

Withdrawing From School

This article argues for the value in socialization research of focusing explicitly on the construct of parental psychological control of children--control that constrains, invalidates, and manipulates children's psychological and emotional experience and expression. The article traces the history of the construct and distinguishes psychological control theoretically and empirically from more behaviorally oriented control. 2 new measures of psychological control are developed. Data from 3 separate studies are presented which indicate that psychological control can be adequately measured across demographically varied samples and mode of measurement. In both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, psychological control, particularly as perceived by preadolescents and adolescents, is consistently predictive of youth internalized problems (depression) and, in some cases, externalized problems (delinquency). In contrast, behavioral control is related primarily to externalized problems.

Parental psychological control: Revisiting a neglected construct.

This chapter presents a theory of antisocial behavior, the social development model, which organizes the results of research on risk and protec· tive factors for delinquency, crime, and substance abuse into hypQtheses regarding the development of antisocial and prosocial behavior. The social development model is grounded in tests of prior criminological theory. It hypothesizes similar general processes leading to prosocial and antisocial development, and specifies submodels for four specific periods during ch ildhood and adolescent development. Theoretical Considerations The social development model seeks to explain a broad range of distinct behaviors ranging from the use of illegal drugs to homicide. Crime, including violent and nonviolent offending and drug abuse, is viewed as a constellation of behaviors subject to the general principles incorporated in the model. .By considering evidence from research on the etiology .of both delinquency and drug abuse, it is possible to identify general constructs that predict both types of behavior and to use this knowledge in specifying predictive relationships in the development of antisocial behavior. ~ used here, the terms delinquency and drug use refer to behaviors. All behaviors are subject to influence from a variety of forces. The same principles, factors, or processes that influence one behavior should predict other behaviors. At the least, this suggests that a theory of antisocial behavior should be able to predict both drug use and criminal behavior, whether committed by children or adults. More ambitiously, it suggests a search for universal factors, mechanisms, or processes that predict all behavior. This implies a general theory. Gottfredson and Hirschi ( 1990), for example, have proposed "A General Theory of Crime," which attributes all criminal Preparation of this chapter was supported in part by grants from the National Insti· tute on Drug Abuse.

The social development model: A theory of antisocial behavior.

This paper describes a comprehensive developmental approach to preventing youth crime based on the social development model, an integration of social control theory and social learning theory. The model asserts that the most important units of socialization, family, schools, peers, and community, influence behavior sequentially. Positive socialization is achieved when youths have the opportunity within each unit to be involved in conforming activities, when they develop skills necessary to be successfully involved, and when those with whom they interact consistently reward desired behaviors. These conditions should increase attachment to others, commitment to conforming behavior, and belief in the conventional order. These social bonds to conventional society inhibit association with delinquent pers and, in turn, prevent delinquent behavior. The paper describes prevention approaches consistent with the model. Rigorous evaluation of the delinquency prevention effects of these interventions is needed.

The social development model: An integrated approach to delinquency prevention.

white collar group is over-represented at Indiana University. 3. The farming, semi-skilled and unskilled groups are strongly attracted by the teaching profession. 4. Students from the farming and blue collar groups stand a better chance of having their college education postponed or interrupted by a work experience than students coming from the white collar group. 5. Students from the white collar group stand a better chance of becoming members of social fraternities at Indiana University than students coming from the farming and blue collar groups. 6. The G. I. Bill of Rights has increased the proportion of students from the blue collar group at Indiana University from 90 to 113 per cent.

Delinquency as the failure of personal and social controls.

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Delinquency as the failure of personal and social controls.