JUST LIKE NORMAL: A SOCIAL NETWORK STUDY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN PETTY CRIME AND THE INTIMACY OF ADOLESCENT FRIENDSHIPS

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Abstract
The relationship between delinquent behavior and the quality of peer relations is the subject of criminological debate. Some authors state that delinquent youths have friendships of relatively low quality, while others predict no differences compared to non-delinquent peers. In the current study, the perceived intimacy within peer relations, the occurrence of friendships, intimate friendships, practical and emotional social support relations, functional relationships for misconduct and unpopularity, are measured within the school-networks of adolescents aged between 13–18 years. These measures appear not to be negatively associated with delinquency, nor when differences in sex, school or the importance of school friends are taken into account in the analysis. It is suggested that delinquent adolescents have different ties with other delinquents than with non-delinquents.

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