Moral Communities and Adolescent Delinquency: Religious Contexts and Community Social Control

Citation

Regnerus, M. D. (2003). Moral Communities and Adolescent Delinquency: Religious Contexts and Community Social Control. Sociological Quarterly. vol. 44 (4) pp. 523-554

Abstract

This study bridges the sociological subdisciplines of religion and criminology and examines whether religious characteristics of groups and social contexts might profitably augment social disorganization theory, providing a morally and socially organizing force in a community. Building on the “moral communities” thesis of Rodney Stark (1996), I test whether religion, when understood as a group property, is linked significantly with lower delinquency among individuals in schools and counties where select religious characteristics are high. Moreover, I also examine whether—as Stark suggests—the efficacy of individual religious traits is heightened in social environments where religiousness is more pronounced. Employing multilevel regression models, I test several hypotheses using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. While individual religious effects remain strongest, conservative Protestant homogeneity in both countries and schools corresponds with lower theft and minor delinquency counts. Additionaly, such religious homogeneity interacts with individual-level measures of conservative Protestantism, further reducing incidence (especially of theft). I explore the mechanisms by which communities' religious characteristics likely influence individual behavior and conclude that religion is a neglected yet potentially important cultural aspect of social organization in communities.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2003.tb00524.x

Keyword(s)

Crime & delinquency Religion

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Sociological Quarterly

Author(s)

Regnerus, M. D.

Year Published

2003

Volume Number

Issue Number

Pages

523-554

DOI

10.1111/j.1533-8525.2003.tb00524.x

Reference ID

184