delinquency parental trust social control structured activies
Abstract:
This thesis investigates the relationship between informal social control as imposed through various methods by school and family organizations using information on respondents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Public Use Data. Although previous studies have investigated the relationship between formal and informal social control and delinquency, this study moves beyond prior research in that it investigates not only the effects of informal social control on juvenile delinquency, but also questions why delinquency and crime exists in neighborhoods that appear to have high supervision and families that enforce informal social control. By incorporating the concept of trust as an important element of informal social control, this research attempts to identify whether trust plays a significant role in discouraging delinquent behaviors. Compared to previous studies, this research showed no statistical difference in delinquency levels for youths who were exposed to high versus low levels of informal social control. Additionally, it showed that youths who trust their parents engaged in less criminal activity.
