NCJ Number
225534
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 5-34
Date Published
February 2009
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This study examined the extent to which measures of opportunity affected the likelihood of multiple forms of delinquent offending among a nationally representative sample of youth.
Abstract
The results reported suggest that greater attention be paid to the situational aspects of delinquent behavior among youth. Although individual traits clearly matter, it is also important to consider the extent to which the routine activities of youth affect their exposure to opportunities for delinquency. Research in 1996 (Osgood) argued that unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers was among the most important contexts in which youth experienced situational inducements to deviant behavior. This study supports this position and presents evidence that income and access to private transportation also provide youth with increased opportunities to offend. Although much of the prior research has centered on participation in unstructured and unsupervised socializing, the extent to which youth encounter opportunities for deviance is likely affected by additional variables that impinge on day-to-day activities and routines. This analysis focused on income and access to private transportation, both of which are consistent with Osgood’s 1996 extension of routine activity theory. Multilevel cross-sectional data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to test predictions based on Osgood and colleagues’ extension of routine activity theory to individual offending. Specifically, the associations between delinquent behavior and three variables hypothesized to increase exposure to situations conducive to such behavior: unstructured socializing (time use), income, and private transportation were examined. Tables, appendixes A and B, references, and notes