Higgins, George E.
Piquero, Nicole L.
Piquero, Alex R.
General Strain Theory, Peer Rejection, and Delinquency/Crime
Youth and Society 43,4 (December 2011): 1272-1297.
Also: http://yas.sagepub.com/content/43/4/1272.abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The development of general strain theory (GST) has led to a renewed focus on the influence of negative life experiences on antisocial behavior. Although a number of studies have generated an impressive array of support for the theory, several avenues remain open for research. In this article, we examine how a specific noxious stimuli, peer rejection, relates to delinquency/crime, and the degree of shared relation among peer rejection and delinquency/crime. Using data from a national sample of 413 children and adolescents, analyses indicated two highly stable trajectories of peer rejection and three trajectories of delinquency/crime, that peer rejection and delinquency/crime were not strongly related in general, but a joint analysis of their relationship revealed that high peer rejection was related to high delinquency/crime among males but not among females. Implications and directions for future research are highlighted.

Piquero, Alex R.
Brezina, Timothy
Turner, Michael G.
Testing Moffitt's Account of Delinquency Abstention
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 42,1 (February 2005): 27-55
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Behavior, Antisocial; Behavior, Violent; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Teenagers;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

An established finding in criminology is that most adolescents engage in delinquency. Still, studies continue to identify a small group of individuals who refrain from delinquency even when it is nonnative for their same-age peers. Moffitt's developmental taxonomy provides some reasons for delinquency abstention, but research has been slow to assess these hypotheses. Herein, the authors use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to examine one of Moffitt's unexplored abstention hypotheses: that some individuals abstain because individual characteristics block their access to delinquent peer networks and, hence, opportunities to mimic antisocial behavior In addition, the authors also present the first empirical examination of gender differences in abstention. The results support some aspects of Moffitt's hypotheses concerning the importance of peer networks, but provide mixed evidence regarding the personal characteristics associated with delinquency abstention and involvement in deviant peer networks. Directions for future research and theorizing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pratt, Travis C.
Turner, Michael G.
Piquero, Alex R.
Parental Socialization and Community Context: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Structural Sources of Low Self-Control
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 41,3 (August 2004): 219-244.
Also: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=14012333&db=aph
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavior, Antisocial; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Discipline; Neighborhood Effects; Parent Supervision/Monitoring; Parenting Skills; Parents, Behavior; Racial Differences; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Several empirical studies have attempted to estimate the effect of low self-control on criminal and "analogous" behaviors. Most of these studies have shown that low self-control is an important feature of the cause(s) of crime. Although research is begining to emerge that targets more specifically the "roots" of self-control via parental socialization (the most salient factor in the development of self-control according to Hirschi and Gottfredson), researchers have yet to explore the degree to which the structural characteristics of communities may influence patterns of parental socialization and, in turn, individual levels of self-control. To address this question, the authors employ longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to examine community-level influences on parental socialization and self-control. The results indicate (1) self-control was predicted both cross-sectionally and longitudinally by both parental socialization and adverse neighborhood conditions, (2) the total effect of adverse neighborhood conditions on children's levels of self-control was just as strong as the total effect for indicators of parental socialization, and (3) important race differences did emerge, particularly with regard to the interrelationships between our neighborhood-level measures and parental socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turner, Michael G.
Piquero, Alex R.
Pratt, Travis C.
The School Context as a Source of Self-Control
Journal of Criminal Justice 33,4 (July-May 2005): 327-339.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004723520500022X
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavior, Antisocial; Crime; Discipline; Neighborhood Effects; Parent Supervision/Monitoring; Parent-Child Relationship; Parental Influences; School Characteristics/Rating/Safety; Self-Regulation/Self-Control; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction;

Researchers investigating Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime primarily concentrated their efforts on the relationship between an individual's self-control and involvement in crime and/or analogous behaviors. Much less research examined the potential sources of an individual's self-control. In this study, an argument was developed for the importance of exploring the contribution of the school context in the development of self-control within individuals. In particular, Gottfredson and Hirschi's position on this front was theoretically elaborated by including school/teacher socialization practices in a larger model of the development of self-control. Using data extracted from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, it was found that the effects of school socialization on self-control were significant net of parental socialization. In addition, the effects of school socialization varied across parenting and neighborhood contexts. The theoretical implications of this research, specifically as they relate to the development of self-control, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR; Copyright 2005 Elsevier]

The development of self-control, or the ability to manage one's behavior to comply with normative behavioral expectations, is generally recognized as a significant factor in preventing antisocial behavior and crime. Although extensive research has focused on the link between an individual's self-control and involvement in crime and/or problem behaviors, much less research has identified and examined the potential sources of an individual's self-control. The current study considers the school context as a potential resource for the development of self-control. One source of data was the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which was a multistage, stratified cluster sample of 12,686 individuals between the ages of 14 and 21 in 1979. Since 1979, yearly interviews have been conducted with the sample to examine experiences when the youth s completed high school and entered the workforce. The second source of data was the NLSY Child-Mother, which was a separate biennial data collection that began in 1986. It included detailed assessments of each child born to the females in the original NLSY data cohort. The two surveys provided information on the following variables related to the cultivation of self-control: poor parental supervision, parental discipline, neighborhood socialization, and school socialization. The behavioral measures of self-control were based on an individual's total score on portions of the Behavioral Problem Index measured when individuals were age 10. The study found that although school socialization was a significant contributor to self-control in less disadvantaged neighborhoods, it failed to enhance self-control in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. [NCJRS]