Presented by Jazzmine Ellis
Criminology 324
Summer 2010
Adolescent Romantic Relationships and
Delinquency Involvement
-Authors Dana L. Haynie, Peggy C Giordano,
Wendy D. Manning, Monica A Longmore
The Development of Delinquency and Perceived
Friendship Quality in Adolescent Best
Friendship Dyads
-Authors Maarten H. W. Selfhout, Susan J.T.
Branje, Wim H.J. Meeus
*Originated over 70 years ago by sociologist Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950).
*The most famous learning theory of crime.
Edwin Sutherland’s concept fro the process by which adolescents become
delinquent because they are exposed to more lawbreaking attitudes than to
law-abiding attitudes.
1. Criminal behavior is learned.
2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of
communication.
3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate
personal groups.
4. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes techniques of committing
the crime, which are sometimes very complicated. Sometimes very simple; and the
specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal
codes as favorable or unfavorable.
6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess to the violation of law.
7. Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity.
8. The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anticriminal patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
9. Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not
explained by these general needs and values, because noncriminal behavior is an
expression of the same needs and values.
Agreeing with Sutherland (1939) who
stressed the role of intimate communication
in the process of transmitting pro-social or
anti-social definitions, and recognized that
associations vary considerably in intensity,
priority, frequency and duration.
Analyses of romantic relationships during
the adolescent period suggests their general
importance to development; Research finds
adolescents themselves frequently to
describe these relations as relatively
intimate and influential.
To determine whether and what
degree does romantic partner
delinquency is related to the
adolescents.
•Data
was used from the first wave of the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents
Health.
• Nationally represented sample of students,
grades 7-12, with randomly selected schools
in the United States from 1994- 1996.
•Survey contained very detailed social
network data for 129 randomly selected and
stratified by region, urbanicity, school type,
ethnic mix and size.
•Another random sample of home
interviewed student.
Most delinquency research centered on social
networks emphasizes the influence of peers
during adolescents of the life course. Because
both peer and romantic relationships are of great
importance to adolescents, and understanding of
the relative importance of each contributes to the
growing body of knowledge highlighting the
importance of multiple sources of social influence
on adolescent behavior.
*Evidence*
Minor behavior
More influential to females than males
Belonging to a network where all of one’s friends
are delinquent is strongly related to delinquent
behavior.
In what way does delinquency develop from early o middle
adolescence?
To what extent does best friends’ delinquency over time,
controlling for initial similarity in delinquency?
To what extent does perceived friendship quality moderate
the longitudinal associations between adolescents’
delinquency and friends; delinquency?
According to social control theory (Hirshi 1969), perceived
friendship quality predicts less adolescent delinquency when
friends’ delinquency is low.
According to differential association theory (Opp 1974),
friends delinquency predicts more adolescent delinquency in
particular when perceived friendship quality is high.
The present study shows that adolescent best
friends play an important role in the
development of delinquency from early to
middle adolescent: adolescents show high
similarity in mean levels of delinquency and
changes over time. For boys, similarity in
mean level delinquency is even higher. These
results provide evidence for differential
association theory for boys. Stability of best
friendship does not meet requirements for
social control theory
Only in school survey of best friends were
taken-weakness.
Received numerous amount of input from
students-strength.
This does support the differential
association theory which states that
adolescent delinquency is found through
relations (friends, family).