Exposure to Deviance Committed by Valued Peer Group and Family Members

Abstract

Longitudinal self-report and official police delinquency data were collected on a sample of 296 Anglo and Mexican-American males and females. Data were also garnered on the deviance rates of the subjects' families and peer group. The research attempts to analyze exposure to deviance and its effect upon the subject's delinquency. Distinctions were made between the development of delinquency potentials and actual performance, and an effort was made to modify the exposure measure based on the interest the actor held for the subject. Results indicate that value did not modify exposure but operated directly on the development of deviant potentials. Low original exposure groups tended to in crease their deviance with increasing exposure, while high orig inal exposure groups increased deviance by virtue of decreasing levels of exposure. Last, regardless of the original level of expo sure, there was a slight tendency for both increasing exposure and increasing delinquency potentials to lead to increased devi ant performance.