School Delinquency and the School Social Bond
- 1 August 1997
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
- Vol. 34 (3) , 337-367
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427897034003003
Abstract
Using data from a sample of 754 middle school students in Grades 7 and 8, this article examines the independent effects of the four components of the school social bond—school commitment, attachment to school, school involvement, and belief in school rules—on school crime, school misconduct, and school nonattendance. The results suggest that personal background, family involvement in schooling, and ability grouping have differential effects on the school bond components. Also, an examination of the independent effects of the four components of the school social bond suggests that certain components are more important than others in controlling different types of school delinquency. These results suggest that the school social bond is an important intervening mechanism that helps to explain the effects of certain predictor variables on school crime, school misconduct, and nonattendance in middle schools.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- Family Structure, Parental Practices and High School CompletionAmerican Sociological Review, 1991
- Juvenile Delinquency and Number of Children in a FamilyYouth & Society, 1991
- Female delinquents in a birth cohort: Tests of some aspects of control theoryJournal of Quantitative Criminology, 1990
- The Dynamics of Moral Beliefs and Minor DevianceSocial Forces, 1989
- Age and the Distribution of CrimeAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1989
- The dimensionality of the social bondJournal of Quantitative Criminology, 1987
- Student Discipline and High School PerformanceSociology of Education, 1987
- Age and the Explanation of CrimeAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1983
- Social Background and School Continuation DecisionsJournal of the American Statistical Association, 1980
- Scholastic Experiences, Self-Esteem, and Delinquent Behavior: A Theory for Alternative SchoolsCrime & Delinquency, 1978