NCJ Number
178478
Journal
Criminology Volume: 37 Issue: 2 Dated: May 1999 Pages: 277-318
Date Published
May 1999
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This article addresses two issues that have received little attention in empirical research: the mechanisms that explain variation in violent delinquency within gender, and variation in levels of violence across gender, or the gender gap.
Abstract
Toward these ends, the article synthesizes arguments from differential association theory, feminist theory, and gender studies. The outcome is a theoretical model of gender and violent delinquency that focuses on the interplay between structural positions and cultural processes. The theoretical model includes a core construct of differential association theory -- the learning of definitions favorable to violence -- as well as arguments about cultural definitions or meanings of gender and gender differences in the role of familial controls and peer influence, which are derived from feminist theory and gender studies. The authors then examine how these cultural processes are conditioned by structural positions. One of the key arguments is that the violent delinquency of females is controlled through subtle, indirect mechanisms, and the violence of males is controlled in more direct, overt ways. The results of the empirical analysis support the theoretical arguments, contribute to the limited understanding of the variation in violent offending among females, and explain the sources of the gender gap in violent delinquency. The article thereby allows greater understanding of the broader phenomenon of juvenile violence. 4 tables, 97 references, and appended description of observable variables and parameter estimates of the measurement model