Psychological Versus Sociological Explanations for Delinquent Conduct and Gang Formation

Abstract

Sociological and psychological factors are frequently used to explain juvenile delinquency and the emergence and persistence of juvenile gangs. Sociological theories, such as social control, containment, differential association, anomie, and labeling each reflect different levels of predictive utility relative to delinquent conduct. Psychological theories, such as developmental theory, stages of moral development, social learning, and psychodynamic theories are frequently invoked to account for juvenile offending behavior. A survey of literature discloses that both psychological and sociological factors are often employed simultaneously to explain juvenile gangs, since the interface between these two general classes of theory is invariably intertwined. It is suggested that using theoretical strategies from several disciplines simultaneously in the creation of synthesized theoretical schemes to account for delinquent conduct and gang formation, including biological variables, has greater predictive utility as opposed to using single-discipline explanations.