An ecological model of informal social control: Linking family and neighborhood controls on delinquency

Citation

Kawaguchi, Riku (2018). An ecological model of informal social control: Linking family and neighborhood controls on delinquency. Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Philadelphia, PA.

Abstract

Criminological literature recognizes the importance of both family and neighborhood informal social control mechanisms in reducing delinquency. However, prior research rarely examined whether these controls work together to curb delinquency. Drawing from criminological theories and previous empirical studies, I offer a theoretical discussion of the ecological model of informal social control that explicitly links family and neighborhood control mechanisms. In addition to family and neighborhood controls having negative effects on delinquency independently as shown in the previous studies, there might be interactive boosting effects and compensation effects between family and neighborhood controls. Specifically, I hypothesize that weak-weak and strong-strong combinations of family and neighborhood controls may boost its negative and positive effects on delinquency, respectively. I also hypothesize that weak neighborhood controls could be compensated by strong family controls and vice versa. I assess the theoretical model and hypotheses using individual-level and community contextual data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The preliminary results suggest that parental attachment can curb delinquency. However, collective supervision seems to increase delinquency, opposite of the theoretical expectation. Moreover, preliminary results did not find interaction effects between family and neighborhood control mechanisms. Theoretical implications and methodological issues are discussed.

URL

https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/asa/asa18/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Paper&selected_paper_id=1380555

Keyword(s)

family neighborhood criminology informal social control

Reference Type

Conference proceeding

Book Title

Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association

Series Title

4122. Section on Community and Urban Sociology Refereed Roundtables

Author(s)

Kawaguchi, Riku

Year Published

2018

City of Publication

Philadelphia, PA

Reference ID

9319