This study attempted to identify the social context conditions under which individual SES consistently predicts delinquency. The magnitude of the SES/delinquency relationship was examined within six levels of each of six aggregated characteristics — overall SES, heterogeneity, urbanness, population stability, overall delinquency, and racial composition—of 87 schools sampled in the Youth in Transition survey. While some scattered results invite attention, mainly because they are contrary to general expectations about SES and delinquency, the analysis failed to identify any condition under which SES consistently predicts delinquency.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bachman, Jerald G.
1970. Youth in Transition. Vol. 2: The Impact of Family Background and Intelligence on Tenth-Grade Boys. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
2.
Bachman, Jerald G.
, Swayzer Green, and Ilona D. Wirtanen. 1971. Youth in Transition. Vol. 3: Dropping Out—Problem or Sympton. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
3.
Bachman, Jerald G.
, Patrick M. O'Malley, and Jerome Johnston. 1978. Youth in Transition. Vol. 6: Adolescence to Adulthood-Change and Stability in the Lives of Young Men. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
4.
Braithwaite, John
. 1979. Inequality, Crime, and Public Policy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
5.
Elliott, Delbert S.
and Suzanne S. Ageton. 1980. “Reconciling Race and Class Differences in Self-Reported and Official Estimates of Delinquency.”American Sociological Review45:95-110.
6.
Fischer, Claude S.
1984. The Urban Experience. 2nd ed.New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
7.
Hagan, John
. 1985. Modern Criminology: Crime, Criminal Behavior, and Its Control. New York: McGraw-Hill.
8.
Harry, Joseph
. 1974. “Social Class and Delinquency: One More Time.”Sociological Quarterly15:294-301.
9.
Jencks, Christopher
and Susan E. Mayer. 1990. “The Social Consequences of Growing Up in a Poor Neighborhood.” Pp. 111-186 in Inner-City Poverty in the United States, edited by Laurence E. Lynn and Michael G. H. McGeary. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
10.
Johnstone, John W. C.1978. “Social Class, Social Areas and Delinquency.”Sociology and Social Research63:49-72.
11.
Kerlinger, Fred N.
and Elazar J. Pedhazur. 1973. Multiple Regression in Behavioral Research. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
12.
Krohn, Marvin D.
, Ronald L. Akers, Marcia J. Radosevich, and Lonn Lanza-Kaduce. 1980. “Social Status and Deviance: Social Context of School, Social Status, and Delinquent Behavior.”Criminology18:303-318.
13.
Matsumoto, Y.1970. “The Distribution of Juvenile Delinquency in the Social Class Structure—A Comparative Analysis of Delinquency Rate Between Tokyo and Nashville.”Japanese Social Review20:2-18.
14.
McDonald, Lynn
. 1969. Social Class and Delinquency. Hamden, CT: Archon.
15.
Reiss, Albert J., Jr.
and Albert Lewis Rhodes. 1961. “The Distribution of Juvenile Delinquency in the Social Class Structure.”American Sociological Review26: 720-732.
16.
Reiss, Albert J., Jr.
and Albert Lewis Rhodes. 1963. “Status Deprivation and Delinquent Behavior.”Sociological Quarterly4:135-149.
17.
Stark, Rodney
. 1979. “Whose Status Counts?”American Sociological Review44:668-669.
18.
Tittle, Charles R.
and Robert F. Meier. 1990. “Specifying the SES/Delinquency Relationship.”Criminology28:271-299.
19.
Wiatrowski, Michael D.
, David B. Griswold, and Mary K. Roberts. 1981. “Social Control Theory and Delinquency.”American Sociological Review46:525-541.
