db week5

School Experiences & Delinquency

Agnew (15)

Which School Experiences Are Associated with Delinquency?

low academic performance

little school involvement

low attachment to school

poor relations with teachers

low educational/occupational goals

dropping out of school

school misbehavior

Why are school experiences and delinquency associated with one another?

both school experiences and delinquency caused by same third variable

delinquency may cause negative school experiences

school experiences have modest causal effect on delinquency

Negative School Experiences

negative school experiences

Why do some juveniles have negative school experiences (while others do not)?

Individual traits like low intelligence and low self-control

Family factors like family size, parental criminality, parental rejection, and poor discipline

Associating with delinquent peers and gang members

Misbehavior and delinquency

Background factors including social class, sex, race/ethnicity, residential mobility, and type of community

Type of school child attends

School Characteristics

School Characteristics & Delinquency

The chapter looks at the following areas:

Amount of delinquency occurring in schools

School differences in rates of delinquency

School characteristics that reduce within-school delinquency

Effects of these school characteristics on delinquency

How Much Delinquency Occurs in School?

1. serious violence relatively rare

2. less serious forms of violence more common

3. theft more common than violence

4. most forms declining since early to mid 1990s

5. bullying is extensive

three dimensions of bullying

(1) behavior designed to harm or disturb others

(2) occurs on a repeated basis

(3) involves a more powerful person or group attacking a less powerful one

victims of bullying suffer range of negative psychological and social consequences

Which schools have higher rates of delinquency?

1. rates higher in schools that have higher percentage of less able, poor, male, and members of minority-group students

2. rates higher in schools located in urban communities with high rates of crime, poverty, unemployment, and female-headed households

3. school characteristics have small to modest association with rates of within-school delinquency.

What characteristics reduce in-school delinquency?

1. small, with good resources

average teacher instructs smaller number of different students

teachers are provided with needed materials and equipment

2. good discipline

clear rules that are consistently reinforced

not overly punitive

3. provide opportunities for student success and praise students for accomplishments

4. high expectations for students

5. pleasant working conditions for students

teachers have positive attitudes toward and show concern for students

teachers create pleasant physical space for students to work

6. good cooperation between the administration and teachers

administrators and counselors keep teacher informed of disciplinary problems

administrators and counselors assist teachers in their disciplinary efforts

7. strong community involvement

How do these characteristics reduce delinquency?

1. create less strain

2. subject students to greater control

3. more likely to punish delinquency and reinforce conformity

4. provide less exposure to delinquent others

5. less likely to label students as “bad”