Is the School Attachment/Commitment-Delinquency Relationship Spurious? An Exploratory Test of Arousal Theory

Abstract

Criminologists have long observed an inverse relationship between levels of personal commitment to education and self-reported delinquency. Based upon arguments derived from arousal theory, we question whether or not this relationship is spurious. Arousal theory argues that individuals vary in their demand for stimulation. Sub-optimally aroused persons, because they require high levels of stimulation, tend to bore easily with the classroom experience but find delinquent activities rewarding. Conversely, those who require less stimulation find comfort in school and exhibit little delinquency. We test the claim by arousal theorists that the school attachmentkommitment-delinquency relationship is spurious with self-

Self-Control, Native Traditionalism, and Native American Substance Use: Testing the Cultural Invariance of a General Theory of Crime

“…Attrition from this combination of voluntary participation and parental permission, along with absenteeism on the day of the survey, reduced the proportion of students who completed the questionnaire to approximately 43% of the total enrollment at the schools sampled (response rates varied among participating schools). This response rate is similar to that reported by other researchers who have adopted the stringent requirements of voluntary participation and parental permission required by both school officials and the institutional review board's policy regarding protected groups in human participants research (Cochran, Wareham, Wood, & Arneklev, 2002;Cochran, Wood, Sellers, Wilkerson, & Chamlin, 1998;Radosevich, Lanza-Kaduce, Akers, & Krohn, 1979). Demographic comparisons of our sample with the general enrollment population of the schools targeted suggest that our sample somewhat underrepresents males (44.4% vs. 48.9%) but that the racial mix is quite proportionate (20.2% Native American and 9.7% Black vs. 22.1% and 9.2%).…”