Gender, Peer Group Experiences, and Seriousness of Delinquency

• NCJ Number: 101496
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1986) Pages: 43-67
• Author(s): M Morash
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 25 pages
• Grant Number(s): 78-JN-AX-0018
• Sponsoring Agency: US Securities and Exchange Cmssn
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The degree to which gender effects on both aggressive and property delinquency are mediated by peer group experiences is examined with data on 588 adolescents in 2 types of urban communities.

Abstract

The data best support an explanation in which gender has its major effect on the type of peer group to which an adolescent belongs. More specifically, girls belong to less delinquent groups, and this is a salient factor in accounting for their lower levels of delinquency. The findings point to the need to delineate specific gender differences that lead girls to be in less delinquent groups, and in so doing to reorient research on the etiology of delinquency to an examination of the individual predispositions and the environmental circumstances that result in youths joining peer groups that are supportive of illegal behavior. (Author abstract)