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Wensel_Dawna Dissertation.pdf (4.19 MB)

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Impacts of Social Bonds on Crime in the Transition Between Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Wensel, Dawna
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1563034420643313

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Sociology.
On any given day there are approximately 31 million youth under the supervision of the U.S. court system (Hockenberry and Puzzanchera 2018). In 2015 alone there were nearly 900,000 juvenile delinquency cases brought before the court. Currently, there are approximately 70 million juveniles in the United States, with this number expecting to continually rise based on projections into 2060. These numbers demonstrate the necessity of research to determine which factors and circumstances contribute to juvenile delinquency. This research aims to predict juvenile delinquency by extending the understandings of Hirschi’s (1969) social control theory. There is an extensive amount of research on social control theory which indicates the importance of social bonds with regards to deviance. However, despite the abundance of previous studies, there remain substantial gaps among the literature. First, previous literature has significantly relied upon cross-sectional data– measuring specific bonds and/or specific forms of deviance at one point in time. Second, the majority of research focuses only on one or two of Hirschi’s (1969) social controls. Utilizing Hirschi’s (1969) social control theory, this research will do three things. First, it will predict juvenile delinquency in adolescence by measuring all four types of social bonds (i.e. attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief). Second, it will examine the impacts of social controls on deviance in young adulthood. Third, it will assess whether early bonds have a lasting effect beyond adolescence into young adulthood. Results indicate that early social bonds are significant in adolescence and in young adulthood. Moreover, findings show that bonds formed in adolescence have, at least, marginal lasting effects on deviance into young adulthood. This research demonstrates the importance and longevity of early social bonds in the crucial transition from adolescence to young adulthood. These findings could be essential to early intervention programs– as identifying broken or missing social bonds of troubled youth, at earlier ages, could greatly improve the success of deviance prevention and intervention practices.
Stacey Nofziger (Committee Chair)
Kathryn Feltey (Committee Member)
Robert Peralta (Committee Member)
Shannon Zentall (Committee Member)
John Zipp (Committee Member)
151 p.
Criminology; Sociology
Hirschi; social control theory; social bonds, juvenile delinquency; deviance; deviance in young adulthood

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wensel, D. (2019). Impacts of Social Bonds on Crime in the Transition Between Adolescence and Young Adulthood [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1563034420643313

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wensel, Dawna. Impacts of Social Bonds on Crime in the Transition Between Adolescence and Young Adulthood. 2019. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1563034420643313.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wensel, Dawna. "Impacts of Social Bonds on Crime in the Transition Between Adolescence and Young Adulthood." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1563034420643313

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1563034420643313
387
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.