Gender and the Search for Deviant Role Exits (From Structural Criminology, P 238-255, 1989, John Hagan - See NCJ-124199)

• NCJ Number: 124208
• Author(s): J Hagan
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Rutgers University Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Not enough attention is given to gender differences in many forms of social deviance.

Abstract

Although women generally are not as delinquent as men, they score about as high on many measures of drug use, and higher on measures of psychosocial distress, including attempted suicide. Men, however, complete suicide more frequently. According to the power-control theory, the inclination towards deviance is universal, and the fact that women are less criminal (including suicidal) than men can be attributed to the disproportionate social control imposed on them. Within the large, pervasive social control scheme, the key factors are the presence of power and the absence of control. Among daughters, the ones most likely to be psychosocially distressed are those whose mothers work outside the home. 5 tables.