NCJ Number
76830
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (1980) Pages: 239-248
Date Published
1980
Length
10 pages
Annotation
To identify types of delinquency, this paper focuses on relationships among parental social class, involvement with delinquent peers, and extent of neutralization in a path model where the dependent variable is three different types of self-report delinquency.
Abstract
Self-reported delinquency types are categorized into minor, predatory, and aggressive delinquency. The effect of this division was analyzed among 694 Mexican American and Anglo college students who completed questionnaires focusing on delinquent behavior. The structure of the resulting path models remained similar across the sample, although some variation was found in the strength of the relationships. The effect of the father's occupation was minimal. The strongest relationships were between neutralization and delinquency, controlling for the delinquent peers and for father's occupation, which decreased as the seriousness of the delinquency increased. Neutralization was more strongly related to delinquency among Anglos than among Mexican Americans. Association with delinquent peers was more strongly related to delinquency among Mexican Americans. The five techniques of neutralization (i.e., denial of injury, denial of responsibility, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and the appeal to higher loyalties) are strongly associated with delinquent behavior. Techniques of neutralization are therefore viewed as guilt-reducing mechanisms. The time sequence of neutralization and delinquency cannot be determined. The paper includes four diagrams, three footnotes, and 17 references. (Author abstract modified)