NCJ Number
96790
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1984) Pages: 325-342
Date Published
1984
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study investigates the hypothesis that feminist orientation, by raising aspirations, increases the probability of deviant adaptations.
Abstract
The model allows the testing of hypotheses relating to the effect of equal opportunity, frustration, and competition on feminist behavior. The data (females only) were taken from a randomly selected sample of high school students in a midwestern county who completed self-administered questionnaires in 1980. Questions on nondeviant behavior were alternated with questions on deviant behavior. All students were born in 1964 and raised in an environment saturated with feminist messages. Few adolescents reported involvement in serious offenses. Offenses were factor analyzed. Low social class, low conventional aspirations, low school success, and high social activity were sequentially linked in predicting high rates of female delinquency. The findings best support a subcultural deprivation explanation of delinquency. The study concludes that lower class position depresses aspirations, leading to lower school performance and high social activity, which strongly predict delinquency. The contribution of feminist orientation to this predominant explanation is minimal, although feminist self-concept was found to have a very modest positive effect on delinquency. Figures, footnotes, and 40 references are provided.