Research consistently demonstrates that females engage in less criminal behavior than males across the life course, but research on the variability of the gender gap across contexts is sparse. To address this issue, we examine the gender gap in self-reported violent crime among adolescents across neighborhoods. Multilevel models using data from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that the gender gap in violent crime decreases as levels of neighborhood disadvantage increase. Furthermore, the narrowing of the gender gap is explained by gender differences in peer influence on violent offending. Neighborhood disadvantage increases exposure to peer violence for both sexes, but peer violence has a stronger impact on violent offending for females than for males; this produces the reduction in the gender gap at higher levels of disadvantage. We also find that the gender difference in the relationship between peer violence and offending is explained, in part, by (1) the tendency for females to have more intimate friendships than do males and (2) the moderating effect of peer intimacy on the relationship between peer violence and self-reported violent behavior.
AgnewRobert. 1991. “The Interactive Effects of Peer Variables on Delinquency.” Criminology29:47–72.
2.
AkersRonald L.1998. Social Learning and Social Structure: A General Theory of Crime and Deviance. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
3.
AkersRonald L.JensenGary F.2006. “Empirical Status of Social Learning Theory: Past, Present, and Future.” Pp. 37–76 in Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory. Vol. 15, Advances in Criminological Theory, edited by CullenF. T.WrightJ. P.BlevinsK. R.New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishing.
4.
BaumeisterRoy F.SommerKristin L.1997. “What Do Men Want? Gender Differences and Two Spheres of Belongingness: Comment on Cross and Madson (1997).” Psychological Bulletin122:38–44.
5.
BerndtThomas J.1992. “Friendship and Friends’ Influence in Adolescence.” Current Directions in Psychological Science1:156–59.
6.
BrenerNancy D.SimonThomas R.KrugEtienne G.LowryRichard. 1999. “Recent Trends in Violence-Related Behaviors among High School Students in the United States.” JAMA281:440–46.
7.
BrodyGene H.GeXiaojiaCongerRandGibbonsFrederick X.MurryVelma McBrideGerrardMegSimonsRonald L.2001. “The Influence of Neighborhood Disadvantage, Collective Socialization, and Parenting on African American Children’s Affiliation with Deviant Peers.” Child Development72:1231–46.
8.
BrunsonRod K.StewartEric A.2006. “Young African American Women, the Street Code, and Violence: An Exploratory Analysis.” Journal of Crime and Justice29:1–19.
9.
BursikRobert J.GrasmickHarold. 1993. Neighborhoods and Crime. New York: Lexington Books.
10.
CernkovichStephen A.GiordanoPeggy C.1979. “A Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Delinquency.” Sociological Quarterly20:131–45.
11.
ClarkMargaret S.ReisHarry T.1988. “Interpersonal Processes in Close Relationships.” Annual Review of Psychology39:609–672.
12.
CrossSusan E.MadsonLaura. 1997. “Models of the Self: Self-Construals and Gender.” Psychological Bulletin122:5–37.
13.
DalyKathleen. 1998a. “Gender, Crime, and Criminology.” Pp. 85–108 in The Handbook of Crime and Punishment, edited by TonryM.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
14.
DalyKathleen. 1998b. “Women’s Pathways to Felony Court: Feminist Theories of Lawbreaking and Problems of Representation.” Pp. 135–54 in Criminology at the Crossroads: Feminist Readings in Crime and Justice, edited by DalyK.MaherL.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
15.
DalyKathleenMaherLisa. 1998. “Crossroads and Intersections: Building from Feminist Critique.” Pp. 1–17 in Criminology at the Crossroads: Feminist Readings in Crime and Justice, edited by DalyK.MaherL.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
16.
De BoeckPaulWilsonMark. 2004. Exploratory Item Response Models: A Generalized Linear and Nonlinear Approach. New York: Springer.
17.
EarlsFelton J.Brooks-GunnJeanneRaudenbushStephen W.SampsonRobert J.2005. Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). Boston, MA: Harvard Medical School. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
18.
ElliottDelbert S.AgetonSusan S.CanterRachelle J.1979. “An Integrated Theoretical Perspective on Delinquent Behavior.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency16:3–27.
19.
ElliottDelbert S.HuizingaDavidAgetonSuzanne S.1985. Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
20.
ElliottDelbert S.HuizingaDavidMenardScott. 1989. Multiple Problem Youth: Delinquency, Substance Use, and Mental Health Problems. New York: Springer.
21.
FinemanMartha. 1990. “Challenging Law, Establishing Differences: The Future of Feminist Legal Scholarship.” Florida Law Review42:25–43.
22.
GagerConstance T.CooneyTeresa M.CallKathleen Thiede. 1991. “The Effects of Family Characteristics and Time Use on Teenagers’ Household Labor.” Journal of Marriage and the Family61:982–94.
23.
GalbavyRenee J.2003. “Juvenile Delinquency: Peer Influences, Gender Differences, and Prevention.” Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community25:65–78.
24.
GibsonChris L.SullivanChristopher J.JonesShaynePiqueroAlex R.2010. “Does it Take a Village? Assessing Neighborhood Influences on Children’s Self-Control.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency47:31–62.
25.
GiordanoPeggy C.CernkovichStephen A.1997. “Gender and Antisocial Behavior.” Pp. 496–510 in The Handbook of Antisocial Behavior, edited by StoffD. M.BreilingJ.MaserJ. D.New York: John Wiley and Sons.
26.
GiordanoPeggy C.CernkovichStephen A.PughM. D.1986. “Friendships and Delinquency.” American Journal of Sociology91:1170–1202.
27.
HaganJohnGillisA. R.SimpsonJohn. 1985. “The Class Structure of Gender and Delinquency: Toward a Power-Control Theory of Common Delinquent Behavior.” American Journal of Sociology90:1151–78.
28.
HaynieDana L.SilverEricTeasdaleBrent. 2006. “Neighborhood Characteristics, Peer Networks, and Adolescent Violence.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology22:147–69.
29.
HeimerKaren. 2000. “Changes in the Gender Gap in Crime and Women’s Economic Marginalization.” Pp. 427–83 in Criminal Justice 2000. Vol. 1, The Nature of Crime and Continuity and Change, edited by LaFreeG.Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
30.
HeimerKarenDe CosterStacy. 1999. “The Gendering of Violent Delinquency.” Criminology37:277–312.
31.
HeimerKarenWittrockStacyUnalHalime. 2006. “The Crimes of Poverty: Economic Marginalization and the Gender Gap in Crime.” Pp. 115–36 in Gender and Crime: Patterns of Victimization and Offending, edited by HeimerK.KruttschnittC.New York: New York University Press.
32.
HirschiTravis. 1969. Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
33.
Hoffman-BustamanteDale. 1973. “The Nature of Female Criminality.” Issues in Criminology9:117–36.
34.
HoxJoop J.1995. Applied Multi-Level Analysis, 2nd ed.Amsterdam: T. T. Publications.
35.
JensenGary J.EveRaymond. 1976. “Sex Difference in Delinquency: An Examination of Popular Sociological Explanations.” Criminology13:427–48.
36.
JohnsonMichael P.1995. “Patriarchal Terrorism and Common Couple Violence: Two Forms of Violence against Women.” Journal of Marriage and the Family57:283–94.
37.
JohnsonRichard. 1979. Juvenile Delinquency and Its Origins. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
38.
JonesNikki. 2004. “It’s Not Where You Live, It’s How You Live: How Young Women Negotiate Conflict and Violence in the Inner City.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science595:49–62.
39.
JonesNikki. 2009. Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner City Violence. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
LaGrangeTeresa C.SilvermanRobert A.1999. “Low Self-Control and Opportunity: Testing the General Theory of Crime as an Explanation for Gender Differences in Delinquency.” Criminology37:41–72.
42.
LauritsenJanet L.1998. “The Age-Crime Debate: Assessing the Limits of Longitudinal Self-Report Data.” Social Forces77:127–55.
43.
LauritsenJanet L.HeimerKarenLynchJames P.2009. “Trends in the Gender Gap in Violent Offending: New Evidence from the National Crime Victimization Surveys.” Criminology47:361–99.
44.
MaherLisa. 1995. Dope Girls: Gender, Race, and Class in the Drug Economy. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.
45.
MatsuedaRoss L.HeimerKaren. 1987. “Race, Family Structure and Delinquency: A Test of Differential Association and Social Control Theories.” American Sociological Review52:826–40.
46.
McCarthyBillFelmleeDianeHaganJohn. 2004. “Girl Friends Are Better: Gender, Friends, and Crime among School and Street Youth.“ Criminology42:805–835.
47.
MearsDaniel P.PloegerMatthewWarrMark. 1998. “Explaining the Gender Gap in Delinquency: Peer Influence and Moral Evaluations of Behavior.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency35:251–66.
48.
MesserschmidtJames W.1993. Masculinities and Crime. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
49.
MillerJody. 2001. One of the Guys: Girls, Gangs, and Gender. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
50.
MillerJody. 2008. Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence. New York: New York University Press.
51.
MillerJodyMullinsChristopher W.2006. “The Status of Feminist Theories in Criminology.” Pp. 217–49 in Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory. Vol. 15, Advances in Criminological Theory, edited by CullenF. T.WrightJ. P.BlevinsK. R.New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
52.
MorashMerry. 1986. “Gender, Peer Group Experiences, and Seriousness of Delinquency.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency23:43–67.
53.
MorenoffJeffrey D.SampsonRobert J.1997. “Violent Crime and the Spatial Dynamics of Neighborhood Transition: Chicago, 1970–1990.” Social Forces76:31–64.
54.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. 1991. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Population Estimates. Rockville, MD: Government Printing Office.
55.
O’BrienRobert M.1999. “Measuring the Convergence/Divergence of ‘Serious Crime’ Arrest Rates for Males and Females: 1960–1995.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology15:97–114.
56.
OsgoodD. WayneAndersonAmy L.2004. “Unstructured Socializing and Rates of Delinquency.” Criminology42:519–49.
57.
OsgoodD. WayneMcMorrisBarbara J.PotenzaMaria T.2002. “Analyzing Multiple-Item Measures of Crime and Deviance I: Item Response Theory Scaling.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology18:267–96.
58.
ParkRobert E.BurgessErnest W.1924. “The Urban Community as a Special Pattern and a Moral Order.” Pp. 3–20 in The Urban Community, edited by BurgessE. W.Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press.
PiqueroNicole LeeperGoverAngela R.MacDonaldJohn M.PiqueroAlex R.2005. “The Influence of Delinquent Peers on Delinquency: Does Gender Matter?” Youth Society36:251–75.
61.
PrattTravis C.CullenFrancis T.2000. “The Empirical Status of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory of Crime: A Meta-Analysis.” Criminology38:931–64.
62.
RaudenbushStephen W.BrykAnthony S.2002. Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods, 2nd ed.London, UK: Sage.
63.
RaudenbushStephen W.JohnsonChristopherSampsonRobert J.2003. “A Multivariate, Multilevel Rasch Model with Application to Self-Reported Criminal Behavior.” Sociological Methodology33:169–211.
64.
RaudenbushStephen W.SampsonRobert J.1999. “Ecometrics: Toward a Science of Assessing Ecological Settings, with Application to the Systematic Social Observation of Neighborhoods.” Sociological Methodology29:1–41.
65.
RawlinsWilliam K.1992. Friendship Matters: Communication, Dialectics, and the Life Course. Hawthorne, NY: Walter de Gruyter.
66.
ReisigMichael D.HoltfreterKristyMorashMerry. 2006. “Assessing Recidivism Risk across Female Pathways to Crime.” Justice Quarterly23:384–405.
67.
RoystonPatrick. 2005. “Multiple Imputation of Missing Values: Update.” Stata Journal5:188–201.
68.
SampsonRobert J.LauritsenJanet L.1994. “Violent Victimization and Offending: Individual, Situational, and Community Level Risk Factors.” Pp. 1–114 in Understanding and Preventing Violence, edited by ReissA. J.RothJ. A.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
69.
SampsonRobert J.MorenoffJeffrey D.Gannon-RowleyThomas. 2002. “Assessing ‘Neighborhood Effects’: Social Processes and New Directions in Research.” Annual Review of Sociology28:443–79.
70.
SampsonRobert J.MorenoffJeffrey D.RaudenbushStephen W.2005. “Social Anatomy of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Violence.” American Journal of Public Health95:224–32.
71.
SampsonRobert J.RaudenbushStephen W.1999. “Systematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods.” American Journal of Sociology105:603–651.
72.
SampsonRobert J.RaudenbushStephen W.EarlsFenton. 1997. “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy.” Science277:918–24.
73.
SchwartzJennifer. 2006a. “Effects of Diverse Forms of Family Structure on Women’s and Men’s Homicide.” Journal of Marriage and Family68:1292–1313.
74.
SchwartzJennifer. 2006b. “Family Structure as a Source of Female and Male Homicide in the United States.” Homicide Studies10:253–78.
75.
SchwartzJenniferSteffensmeierDarrellFeldmeyerBen. 2009. “Assessing Trends in Women’s Violence via Data Triangulation: Arrests, Convictions, Incarcerations, and Victim Reports.” Social Problems56:494–525.
76.
SchwartzJenniferSteffensmeierDarrellZhongHuaAckermanJeff. 2009. “Trends in the Gender Gap in Violence: Reevaluating NCVS and other Evidence.” Criminology47:401–426.
77.
ShawCliffordMcKayHenry. 1942. Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
78.
ShelleyLouise I.1981. Crime and Modernization: The Impact of Industrialization and Urbanization on Crime. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
79.
SimonsRonald L.LorenzFred O.WuChyi-InCongerRand D.1993. “Marital and Spouse Support as Mediator and Moderator of the Impact of Economic Strain upon Parenting.” Developmental Psychology29:368–81.
80.
SimonsRonald L.MillerMartin G.AignerStephen M.1980. “Contemporary Theories of Deviance and Female Delinquency: An Empirical Test.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency17:42–57.
81.
SmithDouglas A.1979. “Sex and Deviance: An Assessment of Major Sociological Variables.” Sociological Quarterly20:183–95.
82.
SmithDouglas A.PaternosterRaymond. 1987. “The Gender Gap in Theories of Deviance: Issues and Evidence.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency24:140–67.
83.
SnijdersTom A. B.BoskerRoel. 1999. Multilevel Analysis: An Introduction to Basic and Advanced Multilevel Modeling. London, UK: Sage Publications.
84.
SouthScott J.MessnerSteven F.1987. “The Sex Ratio and Women’s Involvement in Crime: A Cross-National Analysis.” Sociological Quarterly28:171–88.
85.
SteffensmeierDarrell. 1980. “A Review and Assessment of Sex Differences in Adult Crime, 1965–77.” Social Forces58:1080–1108.
86.
SteffensmeierDarrellAllanEmilieStreifelCathy. 1989. “Development and Female Crime: A Cross-National Test of Alternative Explanations.” Social Forces68:262–83.
87.
SteffensmeierDarrellCobbMichael J.1981. “Sex Differences in Urban Arrest Patterns, 1934–1979.” Social Problems29:37–50.
88.
SteffensmeierDarrellHaynieDana. 2000. “Gender, Structural Disadvantage, and Urban Crime: Do Macrosocial Variables also Explain Female Offending Rates?” Criminology38:403–438.
89.
SteffensmeierDarrellSchwartzJenniferZhongHuaAckermanJeff. 2005. “An Assessment of Recent Trends in Girls’ Violence Using Diverse Longitudinal Sources: Is the Gender Gap Closing?” Criminology43:355–406.
90.
SteffensmeierDarrellZhongHuaAckermanJeffSchwartzJenniferAghaSuzanne. 2006. “Gender Gap Trends for Violent Crimes: A UCR-NCVS Comparison.” Feminist Criminology1:72–98.
ThornberryTerence P.1987. “Toward an Interactional Theory of Delinquency.” Criminology25:863–92.
93.
ThornberryTerence P.KrohnMarvin D.2002. “Comparison of Self-Report and Official Data for Measuring Crime.” Pp. 43–94 in Measurement Problems in Criminal Justice Research: Workshop Summary, edited by PepperJ. V.PetrieC. V.Washington, DC: National Academics.
94.
ThornberryTerence P.LizotteAlan J.KrohnMarvin D.FarnworthMargaret D.JangSung Joon. 1994. “Delinquent Peers, Beliefs, and Delinquent Behavior: A Longitudinal Test of Interactional Theory.” Criminology32:601–637.
95.
Van VoorhisPatriciaCullenFrancis T.MathersRichard A.GarnerConnie C.1988. “The Impact of Family Structure and Quality on Delinquency: A Comparative Assessment of Structural and Functional Factors.” Criminology26:235–61.
96.
WarrMark. 2002. Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct. New York: Cambridge University Press.
97.
WechslerD.1949. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. New York: Psychological Corporation.
98.
WikstromPer-Olof H.LoeberRolf. 2000. “Do Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Cause Well-Adjusted Children to become Adolescent Delinquents? A Study of Male Juvenile Serious Offending, Individual Risk and Protective Factors, and Neighborhood Context.” Criminology38:1109–42.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
