NCJ Number
99730
Journal
American Sociological Review Volume: 50 Issue: 4 Dated: (August 1985) Pages: 547-560
Date Published
1985
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Social control theory hypothesizes that ties to conventional institutions control or inhibit most people most of the time from acting on deviant motives.
Abstract
Our research examines the relationship between juvenile delinquency and ties to conventional institutions, defined by recent researchers as attachments to parents and school. Assuming a recursive causal structure, extant research regresses delinquency on social attachment. The findings, showing a negative effect of attachment on delinquency, have been used to support social control theory. We question the recursiveness assumption. It seems reasonable to assume that delinquency is as likely to affect attachment as attachment is to affect it. Our research estimates a nonrecursive model using OLS crosslag and simultaneous equation methods. The findings suggest that the effects are reciprocal and contingent on social status and, thus, raise serious questions about the validity of extant research as a test of social control theory. (Author abstract)