Negative Peer Associations and Juvenile Delinquency - Essay Example

NEGATIVE PEER ASSOCIATIONS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 2007 This research proposal aims to obtain empirical data that would characterize relationship between negative peer associations and juvenile delinquency in a given environment. The assumption underlying the study is that adolescents with delinquent peer associations are more likely to engage in delinquency themselves than juveniles without delinquent peer associations. The proposed method of research is a survey of adolescents from 13 to 19 years. Findings will be presented in the form of final report. Negative Peer Associations and Juvenile Delinquency Introduction Juvenile delinquency is one of the most complex problems in contemporary criminal justice. While adult crime rates remains comparatively stable, the number of violent crimes committed by juveniles has skyrocketed over the recent decades. Thus, between 1988 and 1994 the rate of juvenile arrests for violent crimes has risen by 75 percent, which makes many experts project doubling of the rate by the end of this decade (Snyder, Sickmund, and Poe-Yamagata, 1996). Crime is potentially preventable – or at least controllable – social phenomenon, but the only key to its prevention is knowledge of the causes of youthful offending. Impressive number of studies performed up to date reveals that although many factors contribute to the making of a delinquent child, negative peer associations always remain arguably the major source of juvenile delinquency (Andrews, Hoge, and Leschied, 1994: 556). The present study aims to empirically establish and measure correlation between negative peer associations and high occurrence of delinquent behavior in teenagers. Although the potential findings of this research are of minor theoretical importance – comprehensive expert studies have already established and explained the nature of both short- and long-term correlation between negative peer associations and juvenile delinquency – their practical value in predicting juvenile delinquency rates and defining risk groups should not be diminished. The correlation may significantly vary depending upon many factors, such as religion, age, traditions, etc., and only data relating to concrete environment has reliable predictive power and can be used for prevention of juvenile delinquency. Literature Review Positive correlation between juvenile delinquency and negative peer associations has been explored in many studies. The most common approach adopted by the scholars is the social learning theory: behavioral patterns are learned from social interactions (direct learning) and observation (indirect learning) (Bandura, Ross, and Ross, 1961). In studies of relationship between delinquency and peer associations, this broad theoretical perspective transformed to a narrower differential association theory. Evidently, those who seek to establish correlation between negative peer associations and increased likelihood of delinquent behavior derive from this theoretical perspective. In 1996, Brian McCarthy conducted a remarkable study of homeless teenagers in Toronto, Canada. McCarthy surveyed several hundreds of respondents interviewing them: he proposed them to assess their peers and specify what kind of criminal activity they were involved in. The author discovered that those whose peers had history of criminal offence had much higher likeliness to be involved into the same activity (McCarthy, 1996). McCarthy’s findings have been confirmed by another study conducted by Mark Warr in 1996: he found out that peer associations might directly affect the types of criminal behavior, especially the type studied by McCarty – drug selling, in which youngsters engage (Warr, 1996). Daniel Mears and Samuel Field paid particular attention to such important, though often overlooked, aspect of the problem as correlation between negative peer associations and age of respondents. The authors’ findings confirmed strong correlation between age and delinquent peer associations: the influence of such associations is not constant across various age-groups (Mears and Field, 2002). Design and Data Collection 1. Study design The primary aim of the study is to obtain empirical data that would characterize relationship between negative peer associations and juvenile delinquency in a given environment. Descriptive research design is employed to obtain this information because it allows describing the status of such relationship with respect to specific variables. 2. Data gathering and variables Two types of variables will be measured in the study: dependent and independent. Data will be collected via surveying using anonymous self-administered questionnaires. Three types of questionnaires will be used to measure dependent and independent variables. Measurement procedure for dependent variables – though a little simplified – is borrowed from the recently published work of Mears and Fields (2002). The dependent variable – delinquency – will consist of eight specific offenses: Cheating (“cheated on school tests”), Damaging property (“purposely damaged or destroyed property belonging [to others]”), Using or selling marijuana (“used marijuana or hashish”), Stealing items worth less than $5 (“stole or tried to steal something worth $5 or less"), Hitting someone (“hit or threatened to hit [person]”), Burglary (“broken or tried to break into a building or vehicle to steal something or just to look around”), Stealing items worth more than $50 (“stole or tried to steal something worth more than $50”), Getting drunk (“been drunk in a public place”), Respondents will be asked to remember how many times they have committed each of the offences over the period of last 12 months. Each of these offences has its own index: the more delinquent is behavior, the higher is index (indexes can either be calculated separately or taken from the work of Mears and Fields’ (2002). After respondents fill the questionnaire in, indexes for each offence are summed up: the sum represents each respondent’s delinquency level. The second questionnaire will measure independent variables. For purposes of the research, four independent variables age, biological sex, social position (3 levels of income: ‘below average’, ‘average’, ‘above average’, where ‘average’ is income of the average US household), and delinquent peer associations. The first three variables are introduced for purposes of the research. Method of questionnaire allows covering much more respondents than, for example, intensive interviewing or secondary data analysis, and the researcher often has difficulties with interpretation and classification of data relating to overwhelmingly large groups of respondents. The additional independent variables create six different subgroups (boys – girls, 3 levels of income) within each of 7 age groups (the research will cover teenagers) thus facilitating data analysis and increasing predictive utility of the research. The third questionnaire will consist of only one question and measure the most important independent variable: delinquent peer associations. The question proposed has been used by the National Youth Survey (an ongoing study of juvenile delinquency in the United States) and also mentioned in the work of Mears and Field (2002): “Think of your friends. During the last year how many of them have [one of the eight offences listed in the first questionnaire]?” Traditional five-step scale will be employed to measure responses: 1 = none of them, 2 = very few of them, 3 = some of them, 4 = most of them, 5 = all of them. 3. Data analysis Traditionally, analysis of data will begin with processing questionnaires: they should be distributed between seven age groups, six subgroups each. After the questionnaires are grouped, figures should undergo some basic statistical transformations: indexes must be calculated for each of the dependent variables, and these indexes should be summed up to obtain the overall delinquency index for each respondent; the mean delinquency index should be calculated for each subgroup and each age group. The same operations should be performed with data related to independent variables, namely to delinquency peer associations because three other variables have been introduced to group respondents. After performing these difficult time-consuming statistical operations, we will obtain an opportunity to measure and analyze correlation between dependent and independent variables for each of the age groups. Besides, the study design allows comparing and contrasting the relationship between negative peer associations and delinquency for boys and girls from different social groups, and even for definite types of delinquent behavior. The final results will be presented in demonstrative tables. REFERENCES Andrews, D.A., Robert D. Hoge, and Alan W. Leschied. "Tests of Three Hypotheses Regarding the Predictors of Delinquency." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 22.1 (1994): 547-559. Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S.A. (1961) “Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models”, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, No. 63: 575-582 McCarthy, B. (1996), “The attitudes and actions of others: tutelage and Sutherlands theory of differential association”, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 36, no. 1, 135- 47. Mears, Daniel P., and Samuel H. Field (2002), “A Closer Look at the Age, Peers, and Delinquency Relationship”, Western Criminology Review 4 (1) Snyder, Howard J., Melissa Sickmund, and Eileen Poe-Yamagata (1996) Juvenile offenders and victims: a 1996 update of violence, Washington DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Warr, Mark. (1996), “Organization and Instigation in Delinquent Groups”, Criminology 34: 11-36 Read More