Social Origins and School Failure: A Reexamination of Cohen's Theory of Working-Class Delinquency

Kelly, Delos H.; Balch, Robert W.

doi:10.2307/1388540

Cited by 56 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Certainly, the literature supports the notion that low achievers and youth with problems at home will be truant and perhaps engage in senseless acts of vandalism, as indeed we found (Kelly and Balch 1971;Roberts 1956;Rogers and Mays 1987;Thornton et al 1987). However, it is equally probable that even cheating is engaged in by troubled youths as a gesture of rebellion against parents, peers, and the school (Toby 1983;Criminal Victimization in Urban Schools 1979).…”

Section: Predicting School-based Misbehaviorsupporting

confidence: 74%

Family ties, parental discipline, and delinquency: A study of youthful misbehavior by parochial high school students

Williams

Clinton

Winfree

et al. 1992

Sociological Spectrum

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The links among family ties, parental discipline, as measured by the use of physical punishment, and self-reported acts of misbehavior have intrigued sociologists for almost 75 years. However, the available literature regarding the incidence of youthful misbehavior provides few insights into these putative links for families where the parents make the effort to send their child or children to a parochial school. To this end, a random sample of 74 high school students attending parochial school in a medium-sized southwestern city was obtained. Among the family ties variables, family activities was a more consistent predictor of adolescent misbehavior than youths' evaluations of their parents and the parental discipline variable was positively related to delinquency: the greater the use of physical punishments, the greater the delinquency. Although no causal significance is assigned to these findings, they do suggest that, first, what the parents of the parochial students in this study do is more important than how they are seen by their children; and, second, that some punishments, either in response to or as a preventive force against delinquency, may have just the opposite effect.

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Section: Predicting School-based Misbehaviorsupporting

confidence: 74%

Family ties, parental discipline, and delinquency: A study of youthful misbehavior by parochial high school students

Williams

Clinton

Winfree

et al. 1992

Sociological Spectrum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Consistently, examinations of these relationships reveal modest, inverse associations between a wide variety of measures of school attachmentlcommitment and self-reported delinquency (Elliott, 1966;Elliott and Voss, 1974;Hirschi, 1969;Hindelang, 1973;Jensen, 1976;Kelly and Balch, 1971; Schaefer and Polk in President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Adrmnistration of Justice, 1967). Contemporary scholars have also consistently observed modest, inverse relationships between school factors and delinquency (Catalano and Hawkins, 1996;Cernkovich and Giordano, 1992;Farrington, 1989;Hawkins, Catalano, and Miller, 1992;Hawkins, and Lishner, 1987;Huizinga, Loeber, and Thornbeny, 1994;Jenkins, 1997;Krohn, Thornbeny, Collins-Hall, and Lizotte, 1995;Maguin and Loeber, 1996;Wiatrowski, Griswold, and Roberts, 198 1 ;Wiatrowski, Hansell, Massey, and Wilson, 1982).…”

Section: Arousal Theorymentioning

confidence: 93%

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

Cochran

Wareham

Wood

et al. 2002

Journal of Crime and Justice

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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-

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“…The absence of closeness between parents and children (i.e., the absence of bonding to family) also has been found to predict alcohol misuse (e.g., Brook As children mature, they enter networks of friends and peers and form social connections with institutions outside the family, such as schools. Studies have consistently found a positive relationship between peer drinking patterns and alcohol misuse by youth (e.g., Barnes and Welte, 1986; Harford, 1985; Newcomb and Bentier, 1986) and have also shown that students manifesting a lower commitment to school report higher levels of drug use (e.g., Friedman, 1983;Johnston et al, 1985;Kelly and Balch, 1971).…”

Section: Predicwrs Of Alcohol Misusementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the effects of age of alcohol use initiation and psychosocial risk factors on subsequent alcohol misuse.

et al. 1997

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ABSTRACT. Objective: This study examines whether the age of initiation of alcohol use mediates the effects of other variables that predict alcohol misuse among adolescents and also whether the age of initiation of alcohol use accounts for known gender differences in the severity of alcohol misuse. Method.' Data were taken from an ethnically diverse sample of 808 (412 male) students who were recruited in grade 5 at age 10-11 and followed prospectively on an annual basis for the next 7 years to age 17-18. State-of-the-art missing data methodology was used to address nonresponse due to noninitiation of alcohol use. Structural equation modeling was used to examine hypotheses for the prediction of alcohol misuse. Results: A younger age of alcohol initiation was strongly related to a higher level of alcohol misuse at age 17-18 and fully mediated the effects of parent drinking, proactive parenting, school bonding, peer alcohol initiation and ethnicity, all measured at age 10-11, and perceived harmfulness of alcohol use, measured atage 10-11 and age 11-12. However, age of alcohol initiation did not fully account for gender differences in the level of alcohol misuse at age 17-18. To further examine the role of gender, interactions between gender and school bonding, and gender and friend's alcohol initiation, were evaluated. However, neither of the interaction terms had direct effects on either age of initiation or level of alcohol-related problems. Conclusions: Most measured risk factors for alcohol misuse were mediated through age of alcohol initiation. Only gender differences in alcohol misuse at age 17-18 were not mediated by age of alcohol initiation. Variables associated with these differences require further study. The results of this study indicate the importance of prevention strategies to delay the age of initiation of alcohol use.

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Social Origins and School Failure: A Reexamination of Cohen's Theory of Working-Class Delinquency

Cited by 56 publications

References 10 publications

Family ties, parental discipline, and delinquency: A study of youthful misbehavior by parochial high school students

Family ties, parental discipline, and delinquency: A study of youthful misbehavior by parochial high school students

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

Exploring the effects of age of alcohol use initiation and psychosocial risk factors on subsequent alcohol misuse.

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