Empirical Support for Interactional Theory: A Review of the Literature (From Delinquency and Crime: Current Theories, P 198-235, 1996, J. David Hawkins, ed. -- See NCJ-161769)

• NCJ Number: 161774
• Author(s): T P Thornberry
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 38 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-JN-CX-0007 (S-3)
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Sale Source: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This chapter summarizes the theoretical perspective of and reviews empirical studies related to the interactional theory of delinquent behavior development.

Abstract

Interactional theory proposes that delinquent behavior develops in a dynamic fashion over the life course. Rather than seeing delinquency as a simple consequence of a set of social processes, an interactional perspective sees delinquency as both cause and consequence, involved in a variety of reciprocal relationships over time. These relationships include that between parental attachment and delinquency at early adolescence and between commitment to conventional activity and delinquency, at all stages. It does not anticipate any direct effects between beliefs and delinquency. There is substantial empirical support for interactional theory's central contention that delinquent behavior is embedded in a set of mutually reinforcing causal networks. The results of the literature review emphasize the importance of including reciprocal causal effects and explicitly considering developmental change in the construction of theories of delinquency. Footnotes, figures, tables, references