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8-1990

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency in Jordan

Ayed A. Irfaifeh
Western Michigan University

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 CAUSES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN JORDAN

by

Ayed A. Irfaifeh

A Dissertation
Submitted to the
Faculty of The Graduate College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Sociology

Western Michigan University

Kalamazoo, Michigan
August 1990

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 CAUSES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN JORDAN

Ayed A. Irfaifeh, Ph.D.

Western Michigan University, 1990

This dissertation sought to examine the extent to which a set

of social bonding factors were helpful in preventing delinquency in

the Jordanian society. A sample of 147 juveniles (male eleventh-

graders) from seven public high schools in the Tafielah Governate

and its localities completed a self-reported survey. Their answers

were useful in ascertaining whether or not Hirschi's (1969) social

control theory was indeed applicable cross-culturally, especially in

a society dissimilar to the United States. Within the theoretical

confines of Hirschi's theory, the descriptive data suggest that

Jordanian youth have similar cultural beliefs, values, attitudes, and

affiliation to the convention order of the general society.

Based on their admissions of delinquency or non-delinquency, the

respondents were assigned either to the deviant or non-deviant cate-

gory. Four indices were constructed to measure the four elements of

social bonding: (1) attachment to significant others, (2) commitment to

conventional activities, (3) involvement in conventional activities, and

(4) belief in the conventional order.

The four hypotheses of the dissertation were tested and the data

suggested that the Jordanian youth do indeed maintain strong ties to

the conventional order which, in a measure, is some support of Hir-

schi's assertion that a collective conscious exists regarding order

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 maintenance. However, the sample reported significant involvement in

delinquent activities as 76.2% (n = 112) fell into the delinquent

category and 23.8% (n ~ 35) fell into the nondelinquent category.

In sum, the analysis of the data revealed that while Jordanian

youths preserved their ties to the conventional order, the ties were

not sufficient enough to constrain their delinquency involvement.

This finding casts serious doubt on the adequacy of Hirschi's theory

in an attempt to explain juvenile delinquency in a cross-cultural con-

text.

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 Ordel" Number 9101302

Causes of juvenile delinquency in Jordan

Irfaifeh, Ayed Awad, Ph.D.

Western Michigan University, 1990

U·M·I
300 N. Zeeb Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI48106

_" __________________________
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I honestly cannot acknowledge all the persons associated with

Western Michigan University who have contributed so much to my per-

sonal development, but I must be content with recognizing those whose

special efforts and concern were most rewarding to my academic growth.

A debt of gratitude is owed to Dr. Lewis Walker, as Chair of my

Dissertation Committee. His guidance, support, advice, experience,

time, and criticism in the writing of this dissertation was so cru-

cial. As a professor, Lew Walker is outstanding; as a friend, he is

a rare example. My appreciation and gratitude also go to Dr. Peter

Renstrom for his patience and constructive criticism during the writ-

ing of this dissertation. My appreciation for and debt to is owed to

Dr. Judy Riley, who was always willing to offer her advice, experience,

time, and criticism in the writing of this dissertation. Gratitude is

also felt for the support and professional training I received from

the Department of Sociology, W.M U. I am indebted to Ron Kramer,

Morton Wagenfeld, Subhash Sonnad, Paul Friday, Ellen Page-Robin, and

David Chaplin.

A big thank you is owed to my friend and colleague Anora Ackerson

for her support, encouragement, editing, and providing a stimulating

educational environment. My gratitude is individually extended to my

friends Diab Albadyneh, Riad Wriakat, Alison Sears, and the eleventh

grade students in the Tafielah Governate and its localities. I am

most grateful .to Karen Rice for typing my dissertation. Finally, my

ii

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 Acknowledgements--Continued

family support during the long years is unparalleled. Thank you all.

Ayed A. Irfaifeh

iii

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................... ii

LIST OF TABLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Country. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Judicial System...................................... 5

Court of Cessation................................ 5

Courts of Appeal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Courts of First Instance.......................... 6

Magistrates' Courts............................... 6

Religious Courts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Juveniles and Law.................................... 7

Theoretical Formulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Attachment........................................ 14

Commitment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Involvement....................................... 16

Belief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Study Rationale and Statement of the Problem......... 17

II. LITERATURE REVIEW.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The Social Rationality Model......................... 23

Subcultural Theories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Cultural Disorganization Theory................... 25

Social Learning Theories.......................... 26

iv

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 Table of Contents--Continued

CHAPTER

Exchange Theory............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

The Social Solidarity Model.......................... 32

Containment Theories.............................. 32

Bonding Theories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Research Hypothesis.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Summary.............................................. 73

III. RESEARCH METHODS..................................... . . . 75

The Setting: The City of Tafie1ah.. ... . . .. . . . . . .. . . . 75

The Sample........................................... 77

Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Questionnaire......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Pretest........................................... 79

The Questionnaire Administration.................. 80

Measurement Problems and Description

of Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Measurement of Delinquent Behavior................ 84

Data Analysis Procedures.......................... 93

IV. FINDINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Profile of the Sample................................ 94

Comparison to Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency........ 98

Attachment to School, ............................. 103

Attachment to Peers ............................... 110

Commitment to Conventional Activities............. 114

Involvement in Conventional Activities ............ 119

Belief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

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 Table of Contents--Continued

CHAPTER

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Test of the Research Hypotheses ...................... 132

Hypothesis 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Individual Tests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Hypothesis la................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Hypothesis lb..................................... 137

Hypothesis lc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Hypothesis ld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Summary of First Hypothesis .......................... 145

Hypothesis 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Summary of Second Hypothesis ......................... 148

Hypothesis 3..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Summary of Third Hypothesis.......................... 151

Hypothesis 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Summary of Fourth Hypothesis ......................... 154

Summary of the Chapter............................... 156

V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ............................... 159

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Discussion of Findings ............................... 162

Limitations of This Study.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Conclusion.............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Future Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

APPENDICES

A. Research Instruments ..................................... 170

BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

vi

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 LIST OF TABLES

1. The Sample Distribution According to School's Name ............ 94

2. The Respondents' Distribution According to Their Age .......... 95

3. Self-Reported Delinquency by Identification With Father:

"Would you Like to be the Kind of Person Your Father is?" ..... 99

4. Self Reported Delinquency by Perceived Academic Ability:

"How Do You Rate Yourself in School Ability Compared With
Other Students in Your School?" ............................... 103

5. Self-Reported Delinquent Acts by Attitudes Toward School:

"In General, do you Like or Dislike School?" .................. 105

6. Self-Reported Delinquent Acts by Concern for Teacher's

Opinions: "Do You Care What Teachers Think of You?" .......... 108

7. Self-Reported Delinquency by Friends, Contact With the

Police: "Have any of Your Close Friends Ever Been
Picked up by the Police?" ..................................... 110

8. Self-Reported Delinquency by Identification With Best

Friends: "Would you like to be the Kind of Person
Your Best Friends Are?" ....................................... 112

9. Self-Reported Delinqt:.ency by Smoking: "Do You Smoke?" ........ 115

10. Self-Reported Delinquency by Perceived Importance of

Good Grades: "How Important is Getting Good Grades to
You Personally?" .............................................. 118

11. Percent Committing One or More Delinquent Acts by

Time Devoted to Homework ...................................... 120

12. Self-Reported Delinquency by Involvement in School-

Related Activities: "Are You Active in
School Activities?" ........................................... 122

13. Percent Committing One or More Delinquent Acts

By Hirschi's Belief Items ..................................... 124

14. Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and Non-

delinquents on Attachment to Significant Others Index ......... 135

15. T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

on Attachment Indices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

vii

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 List of Tables--Continued

16. T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

on Mother's Attachment Index (Item by Item) ................... 138

17. T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

on Father's Attachment Index (Item by Item) ................... 140

18. T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

011 Attachment to School Index (Item by Item) .................. 142

19. T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

on Attachment to Peers Index (Item by Item) ................... 144

20. Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and

Nondelinquents With Respect to Commitment to
Conventional Activities ....................................... 146

21. T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

With Respect to Commitment to Conventional Activities
(Item by Item) ................................................ 147

22. Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and

Nondelinquents With Respect to Involvement in
Conventional Activities Index ................................. 149

23. Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and Non-

delinquents With Respect to Involvement in Conventional
Activities (Item by Item) ..................................... 150

24. Results of t-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and

Delinquents With Respect to Belief in the Conventional
Order ......................................................... 152

25. Results of t-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and

Delinquents With Respect to Belief in the Conventional
Order (Item by Item).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

viii

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The subject of this dissertation is juvenile delinquency in

Jordan. Juvenile delinquency as a social phenomenon is a popular

topic in criminological literature. Youth crimes, especially among

males are viewed to be a major social problem both in developed and

developing societies throughout the world. Radzinowicz and King

(1977) have stated that "no natural characteristics, no political

regime, no system of law, police, justice, punishment, treatment

or even terror, has rendered a country exempt from crime. In fact

scarcely any can claim to have checked its accelerating momentum"

(p. 30).

Criminological theories have been developed and tested in

the main by either American criminologis~s or European criminolo-

gists. Western ideas concerning crime and juvenile delinquency

have a considerable international prestige, thus the American

theories of crime as well as textbooks are used all over the world.

Midgley, (1977) and Chambers and Inciardi, (1971) have pointed out

that although Western ideas and concepts have been used and trans-

planted freely, studies designed to replicate established Western

theories of crime causation cross-culturally are relatively rare in

the Third World and do not exist in some countries like Jordan.

In Third World countries, juvenile delinquency studies are

mostly descriptive and include only a few attempts to comparatively

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 2

test basic theoretical propositions about crime. Most of these have

shown the rapid increase in juvenile delinquency to be attributed to

processes of urbanization, migration, decline in family control,

faulty socialization, conflict between youth and adults, the decline

in family roles because of increasing education and literacy, and the

decline in moral standards of the societies (Chambers & Inciardi,

1971).

Clinard and Abbott (1973) pointed out a number of "asymmetries"

found in developing countries which may contribute to the crime pro-

blems. They contend the imbalance between the: (a) highly modernized

urban areas; (b) so-called "primitive" cities; and (c) backward rural

areas is responsible for the increase in the rural-to-urban migra-

tion, which in turn breeds the growth of slums and high urban un-

employment. Consequently, the imbalance between population growth

and the inability of the economy to create jobs lead to despairingly

high unemployment and dependency areas--the conditions which breed

crime.

The Country

The official name of the country is the Hashemite Kingdom of

Jordan which officially came into existence under its present name in

1947 and was enlarged in 1950 to include the West Bank as a result of

the Jericho Conference. Jordan occupies a land mass of 37,738 square

miles. It is bounded on the north by Syria, on the northeast by Iraq,

on the east and south by Saudi Arabia, and on the west by the West

Bank and Israel.

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 3

The state of Jordan has received a massive influx of population.

Some 460,000 people were residents of the West Bank when Jordan was

enlarged to become the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, but besides these

people, an additional 350,000 to 500,000 refugees from Palestine had

already fled into the West Bank area and TransJordan while the 1948 war

was going on. When the armistice was signed in 1949, these refugees

were never allowed to return to their lands in Israel. Thus, the

population had risen 130%, from 375,000 in 1946 to at least 1.1 million

in 1949 (Beaumont, Gerald, & Wagstaff, 1976).

By 1950, the population of Jordan, including refugees, was ris-

ing steadily at the rate of about 3% annually. Consequently, the

population rose to approximately 2.1 million in 1967, just prior to

the June war. Following the war of June 1967, when Israel took over

Jordan's West Bank region, another 200,000 refugees fled from the area

to the East Bank of the Jordan and so made the economic situation in

the country even worse (Beaumont et al., 1976).

Jordan is one of the small Middle Eastern countries with very

weak natural resources and a population estimated in 1983 at 2,495,000

(East Bank only), mostly concentrated in the industrial cities or the

urban centers. Amman is the capital of the country with a population

of 744,000, the city of Zarka has 255,500 residents, and Irbid 131,200

(Fisher, 1986). Forty-four percent of the population are urban

dwellers; 40% are youth, 52% are below the age of 15; 750,000 are

between the ages of 7-18 years. In addition, the labor force stood at

400,000 in 1977, with 20% in agriculture, 20% in industry, and 60%

in trade and services. The illiteracy rate is 35% (Ministry of

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 4

Planning, 1986).

Socioeconomic development in Jordan has been hampered by a

variety of difficulties and challenges. The most serious ones are

Jordan's limited natural resources and the diverse effects of five

centuries of Othman's rule, two wars with Israel, and the cut of

external Arabic funds since 1979. The forced emigration of Pales-

tinians generated serious problems with respect to emergency relief,

the provision of employment opportunities and socioeconomic services.

At the present time, the country is facing an economic crisis; the

foreign debt exceeds 8.1 billion dollars.

Along with these crises, tens of thousands of Jordanians lost

their jobs in the Gulf countries and came home looking for jobs and

houses. Social work began in Jordan at the instigation of religious

organizations and charitable groups which provided financial assist-

ance as well as in-kind aid to the needy among the population. As

Fisher (1986) correctly pointed out, of the three or four hundred

thousand inhabitants, only about one-fifth were town dwellers, and

these were confined to four small cities ranging in population from

10,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, thus assuring that the early years of

Jordanian history would be peaceful. As a result of the two wars,

1948 and 1967, and the emigration of Circassians from the Caucasus of

Russia who settled in Jordan as refugees during the 19th and 20th

centuries, combined with the emigration of Armenians and Palestinians,

urban centers grew rapidly to the present urban population of 60%.

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 5

Judicial System

Jordanian law is based on Islamic law (80% of the population

are Sunni Muslims) for both civil and criminal matters. In the years

of Othman's rule, certain aspects of continental law were introduced,

especially French commercial law, and civil and criminal procedures.

Due to the British occupation of TransJordan from 1917-1947, the

TransJordanian area has adopted, either by statute or case law, much

of the English common law. Prior to 1962, there were no juvenile

courts or juvenile laws in Jordan. Its judicial system was based on

five types of courts in Jordan: (1) The Court of Cessation, (2) the

Court of Appeals, (3) the Court of First Instance, (4) the Magistrates'

Court, and (5) the Religious Court.

Court of Cessation

The Court of Cessation consists of seven judges who sit in full

panel for exceptionally important cases. In most appeals cases,

however, only five members sit to consider the arguments. It is the

highest court of justice to hear applications in the nature of habeas

corpus, mandamus, and certiorari, i.e., dealing with complaints of

citizens against abuses of governmental authority (Fisher, 1986).

Courts of Appeal

There are two Courts of Appeal, each consisting of three judges,

whether for hearing of appeals or for dealing with Magistrates Courts'

judgments in chambers. Appellate review of the Courts of Appeal ex-

tends to those judgments rendered in the Courts of First Instance, the

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 6

Magistrates Courts, and Religious Courts (Fisher, 1986).

Courts of First Instance

Courts of First Instance are courts of general jurisdiction in

all matters civil and criminal except those specifically allocated to

the Magistrates Courts. Three judges sit in all felony trials, while

two judges sit for misdemeanor and civil cases (Fisher, 1986).

Magistrates' Courts

There are 14 Magistrates Courts, which exercise jurisdiction in

civil cases involving no more than 250 JD (approximately 300 U.S.

dollars), ar1d in criminal cases involving maximum fines of 100 JD

(approximately 120 U.S. dollars), or maximum imprisonment of one year.

Religious Courts

There are two types of religious courts: The Sharia Courts

(Muslims) and th~ Ecclesiastical Courts (Eastern Orthodox, Greek

Melkite, Roman Catholic, and Protestants). Jurisdiction extends to

personal or family matters, such as marriage, divorce, alimony,

inheritance, etc., for the Muslim community. When a dispute involves

persons of different religious communities, the civil courts have

jurisdiction in the matter unless the parties agree to submit to the

jurisdiction of one or the other of the Religious Courts (Fisher,

1986).

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 7

Juveniles and Law

Prior to the 1950s, due to the social forces of the society that

governed and regulated it, the extended family or the clan assumed

full responsibility for its members, especially the young ones. In

Durkheim's (1897/1951) words, in the mechanical Jordanian society, where

the division of labor is minimal, people are generally involved in

similar activities; consequently, people tend to develop similar ideas,

values and goals, as well as a very strong collective conscience.

With respect to juvenile delinquency, before 1962 there were no

juvenile laws, or juvenile courts, or even juvenile institutions except

two homes, 80 capacity each, which were established in Jordan to serve

children between the ages of 12-18. Broadly speaking, children over 12

years were incarcerated in prisons with adult criminals. The children

below the age of 12 were either adopted by relatives or sent to social

or charitable organizations.

Special juvenile laws were first enacted in 1962, later modified

in 1968 and 1987, especially the laws concerning moral offenses such

as rape. The Juvenile Department, according to the Juvenile Law,

Article 24, 1968, (The Ministry of Work and Social Development, 1978)

was established to provide the following services:

1. To prevent juvenile delinquency and crime by

establishing rehabilitative institutions to
house convicted individuals aged 12-18 years,
and provide care, guidance, training, education,
and a trained staff to supervise these
institutions.

2. A juvenile, according to the criminal law is any

individual aged 7-18 years who has committed an
act which violates the Jordanian criminal law.

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 8

3. To prevent juvenile delinquency phenomenon by

establishing preventive juvenile institutions
for homeless children, orphans, and those at
high risk for delinquency, and provide
sufficient care.

4. To provide some care for juveniles living with

their families (under probation) and provide
counseling and supervision to their families as
well.

5. Special care to be directed to prevent female

delinquency by providing care in the "womens'
house" and follow-up after their release from
the institution. (p. 57)

With regard to delinquency, according to the juvenile laws of

1968, the law does not provide a clear definition of juvenile delin-

quency or a juvenile delinquent. Yet it does establish the age limits

for defining types of juvenile offenders, and sets forth those mea-

sures which may be taken against a juvenile convicted of one offense

punishable by law (Irfaifeh, 1988).

The Jordanian law has several features which will be familiar to

Western criminologists and practitioners. According to Irfaifeh (1988)

they are as follows:

1. All juvenile cases are to be held behind closed

doors.

2. All juvenile misbehavior during the period from

7-18 years of age will not appear in the
individual's record in the future.

3. No juvenile offender will be identified by name,

address, photograph, school, or anything else
which would point to his/her identity.

4. All juveniles have the right to counseling in

the "observation center" prior to the trial.

5. In felony cases, there is no fixed sentence for

each offense; it is up to the discretion of the
judges.

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 9

6. Sentence is also up to the discretion of the

probation officer's report. If the juvenile
offender is viewed as a good person, sfhe might
be released after the judges sign the papers.

7. If a juvenile is accused of having committed

more than one offense, s(he will be brought to
trial only for the most serious offense and will
be sentenced only with regard to that offense.

8. Probation instead of incarceration is an

occurrence more in actuality than in philosophy.
(p. 5)

In summation, Jordanian law, Article 24 of 1968, reflects most

of the modern perceptions of protection, treatment, and rehabilita-

tion in dealing with juvenile offenders. In 1987, the Juvenile Law

was modified concerning offenses related to honor and morality, such

as rape, adultery, sodomy, as well as capital offenses such as murder

or homicide. These changes represent a tougher policy in dealing

with these issues. Unfortunately, the law did not go into detail

about the sentencing process.

Since the establishment of juvenile system in Jordan in the

1960s, the authorities adopted a preventative rehabilitative model

in corrections in setting up this institution. Thus, the Social De-

fense Department divides its institutions mostly into two major cate-

gories: (1) the preventative institutions, and (2) the rehabilita-

tive institutions. With respect to the prevention institutions, the

aims are to house orphans and homeless children, as well as indivi-

duals who might drift into delinquency. The rehabilitative institu-

tions have the goals of providing care, supervision, guidance, voca-

tional training, and academic education for those adjudged to be

delinquents.

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 10

For juveniles, there are 12 instit.utions operating to serve the

country with a total capacity of 605 residents. Of the 12 institu-

tions, two are used to house the female offenders: one serves females

aged 7-18 years with a capacity of 25 individuals, and the second is

for females aged 15-45, with the same capacity as the first. The

other nine institutions serve male offenders from 7-18 years-of-age.

By the end of 1979, the Ministry of Work and Social Development,

through the Social Defense Department, had established a new insti-

tution with a capacity to serve 130 dangerous offenders and recidi-

vists. This new institution is divided into three sections:

(1) the department of closed detainees, (2) partial detention, and

(3) reception center (Irfaifeh, 1988). Accompanying the five-year

plan for economic and social development (1986-1990), the establish-

ment of this institution reflects the recent get tough policy of the

Social Defense Department concerning recidivists and dangerous

offenders.

The establishment of juvenile laws and juvenile institutions

both predate the establishment of the juvenile courts in Jordan. The

first juvenile court in the world was established in 1899 in Chicago,

Illinois. The first juvenile court in Jordan was established in the

capital of Amman in 1980. Currently, three juvenile courts are

operating in the country. The Ministry of Work and Social Develop-

ment had to ask the Ministry of Justice for judges and, in order to

qualify these new judges, they were sent abroad to learn about

juvenile delinquency. Also, special seminars were conducted, not

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 11

only for judges but also for other counselors and employees in the

Ministry.

According to Touq's study (1980), discrepancy betwe~n the

principles of juvenile law and their actual application is very

obvious: delay of due process, absence of cooperation between the

courts and the Social Defense Department, and distrust between judges

(i.e., some of them are unqualified) and probation officers. There

are judges who prefer that juvenile cases be solved either informally

or through the police department. Touq explained this preference by

describing the overcrowding of the court system and the lack of

experience of the judges. Also, he pointed out that police depart-

ments solve approximately 15 juvenile cases monthly. It appears that

only serious cases have the chance of reaching the juvenile courts,

and minor offenses are either solved informally, as in the family

context, or in the police stations.

Theoretical Formulation

Durkheim, an advocate of comparative sociology, emphasized

the importance of testing theoretical propositions in a variety of

social settings, and felt that the following issues should be consi-

dered carefully: First, a theory should be tested in a single cul-

ture at one point in time, such as in the United States; second, in

societies generally similar such as Canada or the European countries

which have comparable cultural, economic, and technological condi-

tions; and third, in completely dissimilar societies (Clinard &

Abbott, 1973).

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 12

Following Durkheim's suggestion, many criminologists have

replicated Western theories. Among the better known cross-cultural

studies which have utilized established Western theories of crime

are Wolfgang and Ferracuti's (1967) theory of the subculture of

violence, Downes' (1966) attempt to replicate Cloward and Ohlin's

theory of differential opportunity in the East End of London; Wein-

berg's (1964) use of a differential association theory in Ghana;

Defleur's (1967) analysis of juvenile gangs in Argentina in terms

of subcultural ideas; Friday's (1970) replication of differential

association and differential opportunity in Sweden; and Abbott's

(1971) application of a differential association in Uganda. Abbott

also tested Miller's theory regarding focal concerns, Cloward and

Ohlin's differential opportunity theory, and Midgley's (1977) repli-

cation of differential opportunity in South Africa.

One of the most significant theoretical contributions in the

study of delinquency in recent years has been the development of

social control theory by Hirschi (1969). Krohn and Massey (1980)

and Agnew (1985) agree that "Hirschi's theory has quickly be-

come one of the dominant theories of delinquency. It is the guid-

ing force behind much recent research on delinquency, as well as

occupying a prcininent place in most delinquency texts. Moreover,

the policy implications of the theory are beginning to receive

serious attention" (p. 47).

Hirschi's (1969) theory has been replicated by several scho-

lars (Caplan & Leblanc, 1985; Hepburn, 1977; Hindelang, 1973; Jensen,

1972; Johnson, 1979; Krohn & Masssey, 1980; Matsueda, 1982;

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 13

Wiatrowski, Griswold & Roberts, 1981). The most successful studies

in explaining delinquency and crime are derived from the control theory

of Hirschi, who, according to Shoemaker (1984), is able to explain from

25% to 50% of the variance in delinquency. Wiatrowski et al., (1981),

explained 32.5% of the variance. While that leaves much variation to

be explained, .data suggest that Hirschi's theory provides a better

explanation of delinquency than other leading theories (Cernkovich,

1978; Eve, 1978; Hepburn, 1977; Hindelang, 1973; Johnson, 1979; Knox,

1981).

Frazier (1976) pointed out that Hirschi's work enjoys "a dual

distinction among the contributions to control theories. First, it

it is the clearest statement available on the variations in the con-

trol approach; second, it presents some of the most compelling data

to be found in support of control theory; and third, it is more

congruent with the Durkheimian formulation than any of the more

recent variants of the control thesis" (p. 65). According to Durk-

heim's criteria, control theory has met the first two conditions. It

has been tested in the U.S. by many scholars and it has also been

tested in a different setting in Canada. Thus, the third--a dis-

similar setting--is waiting for initiation.

Prior to the present study, however, Hirschi's theory has not

been tested in the third setting, a dissimilar society. But before

we proceed to the next section, it is necessary to explain the theo-

retical aspects of Hirschi's bonding theory. He proposed an alter-

native explanation of deviant behavior to theories of strain or cul-

tural deviance which attempted to account for too much delinquency

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 14

quency (Briar & Piliavin, 1965; Matza, 1964). In other words, both

strain and cultural theories have failed to explain maturational re-

form, the nondelinquent boy in a high delinquency area, or the many

conforming activities of delinquency adolescents, among others.

Rather than positing extraordinary circumstances which push an ado-

lescent into deviance, Hirschi (1969) maintains that "the delinquent

is a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspira-

tions, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within

the law" (p. i). The four bonding components as specified by Hirschi

are: (1) th~ affective attachment to significant others, (2) a

rational commitment to conventional activities, (3) involvement in

in conventional activities, and (4) belief in the personal legitimacy

of the law.

Attachment

In Hirschi's bonding theory, attachment is defined in terms of

affection, respect and sensitivity to the opinions of others, or it

is the respect between an individual and significant others. "If a

person does not care about the wishes and expectations of other peo-

ple, . . then he is to that extent not bound by the norms. He is

free to deviate" (Hirschi, 1969, p. 18). Ultimately, the more an

individual is affected by, and the more he respects these significant

others, the more he is attached to them. Of significant others,

parents are viewed as the most important in determining either a

positive or negative outlook on conventional values.

Antecedents to Hirschi's notion of attachment are found in

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 15

Reckless' (1961) idea of inner containment and Nye's (1958) internal

control. Both are simply explanations of an individual internaliz-

ing the views and beliefs held by significant others. Their concept

of attachment of children to their parents is an essential part of

delinquency research, and is generally supportive of Hirchi's posi-

tion. Empey (1978) also pointed out correctly that strong attachment

leads an individual to an easy internalization of social norms, while

the opposite or weak attachment leads an individual to social aliena-

tion. This point has been supported by Reiss (1951), Morris (1964),

Glueck and Glueck (1950), Toby (1957), and others.

Commitment

The notion of commit~~nt refers to the extent to which an

individual is dedicated to the conventional order. In this instance,

Hirschi pointed out that both aspirations and expectations of achiev-

ing higher education, and a high-status occupation were not related

to delinquency. A commitment to this rationality is demonstrated by

conforming behavior and the utilitarian notion that more is lost by

engaging in delinquency activities than is gained. In sum, commit-

ment reflects the cost factor involved in engaging in antisocial

behavior. Hirschi's notion of commitment is similar to Toby (1957)

and Briar and Piliavin's (1965) reactions that those with a higher

stake in conformity (investment) will be more likely to resist deviant

activities. This contradicts assertion of the cultural and strain

theorists' (Cloward & Ohlin, 1960; Merton, 1937) contention that

deviant behavior is fostered by frustrated ambition and blocked

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 16

opportunities (legal or illegal).

Involvement

The assumption here is that an individual who has consider-

able time invested in the pursuance of conventional activities does

not have much time left to commit or engage in deviant activities.

In other words, engagement in conventional activities should absorb

time otherwise available for nonconforming activities. However,

according to Hirschi's findings (1969) "involvement in conventional

activities was not as important as the theory predicts in prevention

of delinquency" (p. 230).

Belief

The last element of Hirschi's bonding theory is belief in con-

ventional values and norms. He argues that belief in the legitimacy

of the moral order will prevent or inhibit delinquency. On the

other hand, the absence of such belief encourages it. If the indi-

vidual believes he should not behave criminally, he probably will

not. As a result, Hirschi (1969) suggested that "delinquency is

not caused by beliefs that require delinquency, but is rather made

possible by the absence of effective beliefs that forbid delin-

quency" (p. 198).

In sum, the four elements of the bond are the focal points of

Hirschi's theory. Further elaboration of his work will be presented

in the literature review chapter. The rationale for using social

control theory in general, and Hirschi's viewpoint in particular,

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 17

will be presented in the next section of this chapter.

Study Rationale and Statement of the Problem

Many criminologists have focused attention on delinquency as a

future provider of different types of criminals. In fact, most con-

victed offenders have prior juvenile records, and the life histories

of many criminals show they started a life of crime as delinquents.

The study of juvenile delinquency has always been dependent on offi-

cial data as a source for analysis. The findings of some of these

studies have been misleading because the volume, class, and role

concentration of misconduct in police data are misleading (Arnold,

1983, pp. 42-43) quoted in Al-langawi (1987, p. 58).

In Jordan, the official statistics have shown an increase in

crimes committed by juveniles in the last two decades: first, crimes

against property increased from 677 in 1972 to 1,247 in 1982; second,

aggravated assault crimes increased from 47 in 1972 to 411 in 1982;

third, homicide crimes increased from 13 in 1972 to 27 in 1982; and

fourth, sexual crimes such as rape, increased from 53 to 306 in that

same period (Ministry of Interior Affairs, 1986). According to

Touq (1980), "juvenile crimes increased 64% between the years 1972-

1977 and also they have increased 142% between the years 1965-1977"

(p. 22).

Furthermore, between the years 1975-1986, 39,503 juveniles

either entered or had contact with the criminal justice system. In

the period 1975-1979, 13,201 juveniles committed acts prohibited by

criminal law. Between 1980-1986, another 26,302 juveniles entered

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 18

the delinquency population. Of the 39,503, 95% of the offenders

were males, and 5% females, and the peak age for juvenile offenders

in Jordan was between 12-15 years (Irfaifeh, 1988).

Touq (1980), a Jordanian psychologist, conducted a massive and

comprehensive study of juvenile delinquency in Jordan (using official

records), and concluded that crimes committed by juveniles over the

last three decades have increased dramatically. He also predicts

that juvenile offenses will increase in the future as well. In offi-

cial Jordanian statistics, serious crimes are the most frequently

reported, with minor crimes usually being solved informally even be-

fore being reported to police departments. As a result, most docu-

mented crimes are very serious. Touq (1980) has estimated that the

police departments solve 15 reported cases monthly in the capital,

while others either go undetected or are solved through family net-

works.

Because of the weaknesses associated with official statistics,

many criminologists rely on self-reported delinquency as a sub-

stitute for official records. Arnold (1983) did an offense-by-

offense check to find out the accuracy of a group's self-reported

delinquencies in comparison with their official delinquent records.

He concluded that 75% of the acts were accurately reported (cited

in Al-Langawi, 1987, p. 13). The comparisor. led him to conclude that

it is reasonable to assume that illegal acts are more memorable or

easy to recall than r0utine behavior or legal acts, and that recent

acts are more easily remembered than long past acts. Therefore, the

present writer has chosen in this study to test Hirschi's (1969)

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 19

control theory, in a dissimilar setting (Jordan), through the use

of self-reported delinquency involvement.

The present study will extend the replication of Western ideas

to a Third World country (Jordan), and it also will widen the scope

of studying unreported delinquency in Jordan. Thus, two questions

will arise: (1) Why control theory? and (2) Why Hirschi's exten-

sion of the theory? With respect to the first part of the question,

it is simply that control theory seems more consistent with the data

on crime than either strain or cultural deviance theories. These lat-

ter theories account for such delinquency (Briar & Piliavin, 1965;

Hirschi, 1969; Matza, 1969). They have failed to explain matura-

tional reform, the non-delinquent boy in a high-delinquency area, or

the many conventional activities of delinquent youth. Regarding the

second part of the question, which deals with the bonding theories,

Hirschi's extension is the most thoroughly developed and complete and

it has best withstood empirical examinations (see Chapter II). Also,

given the nature of Hirschi's bonding theory, its emphasis on the

family and the conventional order, and its obvious testability, it

is considered an appropriate theory for a better understanding of

delinquency in the Jordanian society.

Durkheim (1897/1951) proposed "that abnormally high or low

levels of social integration (altruism and egoism respectively) and

of social regulation (fatalism and anomie respectively) generate

high suicide rates. A society is integrated to the extent that its

members are morally bonded to each other through interaction, a

commitment to common societal goals, and sharing a collective

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 20

conscience or culture. We are moral beings to the extent that we are

social beings" (p. 64).

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 CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a general and brief introductory statement will

be provided about control theories in general. In addition, a highly

selected serie~ cf replicated studies of Hirschi's (1969) theory will

be emphasized, and the hypothesis of the study will be presented.

Control theories have unique and different ways of addressing

the problem of deviant bel1avior. Ultimately, society is regulated to

the extent that social control is exerted over the individuals by cus-

toms, tradition, mores, rules, laws, and other social constraints.

On the other hand, the less integrated and less regulated the society,

the higher the suicide rates. For Durkheim, "ineffective social con-

trol explains deviant behavior" (cited in Howell, 1977, p. 13).

Some criminologists, as we will see, have developed theories or

models of juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior based on Durk-

heim's notion of social control. According to Howell (1977),

three major theoretical perspectives on deviant behavior could be

listed under the social control model: control theories and societal

structural disorganization theories result directly from Durkheim's

model, while cultural disorganization is closely related. The common

denominator of these three perspectives rests on the basic ideas that

deregulation and malintegration are crucial to an explanation of

deviant behavior, but each emphasizes different aspects of ineffect-

ive social control (p. 13).

21

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 22

Social control theories assert that deviant behavior occurs

when an individual's moral bonds to the conventional order are weak,

broken, absent or neutralized (Friday & Hage, 1976; Hirschi, 1969;

Matza, 1964; Nye, 1958; Reckless, 1961; Reiss, 1951; Toby, 1957).

Social structural disorganization theories assert that the frustrated

desire to conform to the conventional order causes non-conformity

(Cloward & Ohlin, 1960; Cohen, 1955; Merton, 1937). With respect to

cultural disorganization theory, deviant behavior is a result of the

desire to conform to cultural values which are in conflict with those

of the dominant order (Miller, 1958; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Sutherland &

Cressey, 1970). In this context, deviant behavior is caused by pro-

per socialization within a deviant social group (for more details,

see Hirchi's, 1969, Chapter I).

The three perspectives, however, have implicitly introduced the

two major concepts of "rationality and solidarity" (Minor, 1975,

p. 45). The sources of conformity or nonconformity can be found in

either one of them. We believe that individuals are rational in

their calculations to conform or not to conform to the conventional

order. In this respect, structural disorganization, learning theory,

and exchange theory, fit the rationality model, with the objective of

either fulfilling desires and needs by rationally choosing illegiti-

mate means, or rejecting the middle class cultural values and conform-

ing to their own subcultures. On the other hand, control theories

fit the solidarity model maintaining that social control is achieved

through socialization and maintained through social constraints as

mentioned earlier. Whenever the social bond is weak or absent,

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 23

individuals are more likely to commit crimes but not necessarily.

In other words, when the integration or solidarity is weak, deviant

behavior is highly expected but not necessary. However, control

theory is the purest type of social control theory unlike social

structural disorganization theory.

According to the above discussion, then we can classify the var-

ious theories which deal with social control under two major rubrics:

(1) The social rationality model which subsumes the subcultural

theories, the social disorganizaitonal theory, the social learning

theories, and exchange theories (especially Homans, 1961), and (2)

The social solidarity model which benefits from containment theory,

bonding theory and role relationship theory.

The Social Rationality Model

Subcultural Theories

According to Hirschi (1969) "social structural disorganization

theories of delinquent behavior have been characterized as the re-

sult of 'good answers to a bad question.' It parallels the Hobbesian

question, why do men obey the rules of society? The good answer is

desire, while the Hobbesian answer is fear of the consequences of

violating the laws. On the other hand, the Hobbesian individual is

antisocial and immoral, whereas the concept of man which underlies

structural disorganization theory is homoduplex suggesting that the

individual has a self-interested and a social nature" (p. 4).

Merton (1937) borrowing from Durkheim, suggests that anomie and

deviant behavior result from a disjunction between cultural goals and

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 24

socially approved means to their attainment. Limited means make it

difficult to achieve the dominant goals of society, including material

and financial rewards. Ultimately, this will lead to a loss of self-

esteem and an attempt to achieve goals through illegitimate means

(e.g., delinquent behavior). Success frustrated by blocked opportuni-

ties also leads to a sense of injustice, which can serve as a motiva-

tion and rationalization for engaging in deviant activities. (See, for

example the work of Cloward & Ohlin; Cohen, 1955;, 1960; Merton, 1937;

Miller, 1958).

Opportunity is a key concept in this set of theories (disorgani-

zation theories). It is most apparent in the differential opportunity

theory of Cloward and Ohlin (1960) and, to a lesser extent, in the

status deprivation theory of Cohen (1955). Both theories are built

upon Merton's more general theory of crime.

Cohen (1955), quoted in Howell (1977), proposes that:

The motivation to engage in delinquent behavior is generated

out of the experiences of lower class kids in the middle class
dominated institution of the school. School authorities de-
fine success and award status according to middle class stan-
dards which are basic to the curriculum, methods of teaching,
and selection of personnel. This process of selection and
awards creates unequal opportunity in the competition for the
status rewards that the school has to offer in exchange for
adjustment through conformity. The delinquent youth, accord-
ing to Cohen, will reject the middle class criteria and con-
form to the values of a subgroup of delinquent peers. (pp.
16-17)

Cloward and Ohlin (1960) extended and revised the general social

structural disorganization theory and attempted to integrate it with

cultural disorganization theory in their differential opportunity

structure theory of juvenile delinquency. They suggested two impor-

tant additions to social disorganization theory. First is the notion

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 25

that in addition to differential access to legitimate means to sue-

cess goals, there is also a differential access to illegitimate means.

The second aspect makes the claim that different types of delinquent

groups are generated in different types of community cultural con-

texts. According to Howell (1977):

They propose that there are two opportunity structures (legi-

timate and illegitimate) and that youngsters who cannot
achieve economic success in the legitimate opportunity struc-
ture may find that it is not universally achievable nor easily
achieved in the illegitimate opportunity structure. Accordingly,
the delinquent solution to the frustration created by blocked
access to legitimate opportunity is not automatic, thus, the
ability to utilize illegitimate means depends on the organiza-
tion of the community and the type of illegitimate opportunity
structure determines the model type of delinquent behavior
that is available to youngsters in a community. (p. 17).

According to Ohlin and Cloward (1973), the behaviors of the young

are encompassed within a system of social controls that originates in

both legitimate and illegitimate sectors of the community. On one

hand, conventional adults (middle class authorities) control the dis-

tribution of legitimate rewards for conformity to the conventional

order. On the other hand, criminal adults control the distribution

of illegitimate rewards for conformity to the criminal culture in the

community, and individuals use their motivation and rational thinking

to conform to or deviate from the rules.

Cultural Disorganization Theory

This perspective conceptualizes delinquent behavior as an out-

growth of conformity to a distinctive set of cultural beliefs, values,

or definitions. The concept of the individual which underlies cul-

tural disorganization theory is homo sanctus, that is, the individual

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 26

has a social nature which borders on the holy. An individual desires

to conform because of his(her almost hypermoral nature.

Cultural disorganization theory proposes that juvenile delin-

quency is a result of the desire to conform to cultural values which

are in conflict with those of the dominant order (Shaw & McKay, 1942;

Sutherland & Cressey, 1970). Hirschi (1969) suggests that in some

cultural disorganization theories "the criminal ends up just a little

more moral than the law-abiding cit~~en because his actions are based

on consideration of social solidarity rather than personal achievement"

(p. 12). According to this perspective, delinquent behavior is caused

by proper socialization within a "deviant" social group or culture.

Shaw and McKay (1942) propose that culture conflict explains

the distribution of delinquency by area and cultural transmission

explains the persistence of delinquency rates over time. A youngster

growing up in a neighborhood characterized by its conflicting conven-

tional and criminal value systems (disorganized culture) where social

controls are ill-defined will adapt to one of the systems of social

control. In areas with high delinquency rates, the criminal controls

are stronger than conventional controls. Unfortunately, Shaw and Mc-

Kay did not specify the individual learning processes involved in

cultural transition.

Social Learning Theories

According to Akers, (1973) "The basic premise of the social learn-

ing approach is that both conforming and deviant behavior are learned in

the same way; the substance and direction of the learning are different,

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 27

but the general process is the same for both conforming and deviant

behavior" (p. 29). Social behavior, according to the social learning

theory, is thus controlled through punishment and reward, hence, the

emphasis on the rationality element more than that of social solidar-

ity.

Sutherland's (1947) theory of differential association was prob-

ably the first leading statement in this area. Hirschi (1969)

labeled or considered his theory, "a cultural deviance theory" in

which both original formulation and empirical examination tend to

emphasize association with delinquent others as the primary causal

factor in delinquency. The subsequent reformulation of Sutherland's

theory by Jeffery (1965), Burgess and Akers (1966), and Adams (1973)

have all emphasized that the process of learning criminal behavior

involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning

(Sutherland & Cressey, 1970, p. 76), (cited in Minor, 1975, p. 46).

Nettler (1974) has suggested that at least three major

principles are involved in human learning: "classical conditioning,

operant conditioning, and modeling" (p. 222). The classical condition

can be traced to the experiments of Pavlov (1927/1960). Eysenck (1964)

and Scott (1971) have suggested that according to this principle that

"conscience is a conditioned reflex which thwarts crimes. As a deter-

rent, therefore, we must consider that the autonomic reaction, the

conditioned conscience of the criminal has it all the way over the

forces of law and order" (Eysenck, pp. 110-111). Eysenck's formulation

has been criticized for its narrow focus on classical conditioning and

for ignoring the importance of operant conditioning, schedules of

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 28

reinforcement, and modeling (Hamilton, 1965).

Proponents of operant conditioning, on the other hand, have

linked a response with a subsequent stimulus. Nettler (1974) argues

that "what happens when we act determines how we act" (p. 224). In

fact, operant principles relate to voluntary behavior, compared to

the relatively limited range of reflexive behavior involved in re-

spondent conditioning. Moreover, operant learning theory applies

to a wide range of social behaviors as Akers (1973) and Skinner

(1953) pointed out.

Bandura and Walters, (1963), and Bandura, (1969) have suggested

that an individual may also exhibit learning behaviors through imita-

tion or modeling, or, in other words, by observing the punishment or

reinforcement, which would follow the behavior of another person.

Most recent literature about social learning has attempted to combine

modeling and operant principles. (See Akers, 1973; Bandura, 1969;

Kunkel & Nagaswa, 1973, cited in Minor, 1975, p. 47).

Social learning has gained a slight acceptance among sociolo-

gists. Traub and Little (1985) have cited dozens of criticisms of

Sutherland's (1947) theory of differential association claiming that:

It omits consideration of free will, is based on a psychology

assuming rational deliberation, ignores the role of the
victim, does not explain the origin of crime, does not define
terms such as systematic and excess, does not take biological
factors into account, is of little or no value to practical
men, is not comprehensive enough because it is not interdis-
ciplinary, is not allied closely enough with more general
sociological theory and research, is too comprehensive because
it applies to non-criminals, and assumes that all persons have
equal access to criminal and anti-criminal behavior pattern.
(p. 22)

Burgess and Akers (1966a) have cited two major weaknesses of

---~------

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 29

learning theory in general: reductionism and tautology. Homans

(1961) has responded to these criticisms by attacking structural

explanations of human behavior as not being explanations at all, that

propositions about aggregates have little generality. Moreover,

Homans attacked Durkheim's paradigm of social facts by arguing that

social facts could be related in causal terms only through interven-

ing psychological processes.

It is important to observe the general reluctance of sociolo-

gists to accept the principles of social learning in general and

behaviorism in particular for psychological explanations of human

behavior. However, differential association theory and subsequent

formulations and modifications have enriched our understanding of

human behavior. Another theory, exchanse theory, has generated a

considerable interest among sociologists (Minor, 1975) and will be

discussed in the next section.

Exchange Theory

Exchange theories have a diverse intellectual heritage, drawing

from sources in economics (see Turner, 1974), psychology, (Emerson,

1969), anthropology (see Frazer, 1919; Levi-Straus, 1949/1969;

Malinowski, 1922; and Mauss, 1925/1954), and sociology. The authors

of the best known exchange theory are Homans (1961) and Blau (1964).

The Hobbesian question of order is central to these theories, and

exchange theory is a control theory in the sense that it either empha-

sizes the rationality of the exchange processes (Homans, 1961) or the

resultant social solidarity (Blau, 1964; Minor, 1975).

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 30

According to the basic assumption of exchange theory, people

seek rewarding statuses, relationships, and experiences and try to

avoid costs, pain, and punishment. Consequently, people choose those

from whom they expect the most profit, rewards, or satisfaction and

avoid those relationships that are not profitable, rewarding, or

satisfying. Homans (1961) acknowledged his intellectual debt to

behavioral psychology and classical economics. However, Homans is

responsible for originating exchange theory, and represents a per-

spective consistent with that of behavioral psychologists who believe

that behavior can be explained in terms of rewards and punishments

(i.e., rationality).

Homans (1961) presented five propositions which he considered

sufficient for the explanation of human behavior:

1. If in the past the occurrence of a particular

stimulus situation has been the occasion on which a
man's activity has been rewarded, then the more
similar the present stimulus-situation is to the
past one, the more likely he is to emit the
activity, or some similar activity now.

2. The more often within a given period of time a man's

activity rewards the activity of another, the more
often the other will emit the activity.

3. The more valuable to a man a unit of the activity

another gives him, the more often he will emit
activity rewarded by the activity of the other.

4. The more often a man has in the recent past received

a rewarding activity from another, the less valuable
any further unit of that activity becomes to him.

5. The more to a man's disadvantage the rule of

distributive justice fails of realization, the more
likely he is to display the emotional behavior we
call anger. (pp. 53-55, 75)

As a result of these five propositions, Homans was able to

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 31

explain a variety of social behavior, including small group inter-

action, and status and conformity to norms. Homan's theory has been

severely criticized by Ekeh (1974), and Turner (1974). The major

four criticisms deal with the following areas: (1) reductionism, (2)

tautology, (3) logical adequacy, and (4) paradigm compatibility. It

is not the purpose of this research to review and defend these criti-

cisms in spite of this theory's weaknesses. The purpose here is to

share Homan's contributions and to acknowledge his theory as the

dominant paradigm of social exchange theories (Minor, 1975), not to

defend his work against the critics.

While Homans is the leading advocate of behavioral psychology,

Peter Blau (1964), another exchange theorist, has acknowledged his

debt to Mead or to symbolic interactionism (the term is coined by

Blumer). Because the exchange is more subjective and interpretative

and that the exchange occurs on the symbolic level, Blau sought to

go beyond small interactional networks to the analysis of larger and

more complex social systems. Turner (1974) has identified this

attempt as follows:

1. The more profit a person expects from another in

e~itting a particular activity, the more likely he
is to emit that activity.

2. The more a person has exchanged rewards with

another, the more likely are reciprocal obligations
to emerge and guide subsequent exchanges among three
persons.

3. The more reciprocal obligations of an exchange

relationship are violated, the more are deprived
parties disposed to sanction negatively those
violating the norm of reciprocity.

4. The more expected rewards have been forthcoming from

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 32

the emission of a particular activity, the less

valuable the activity, and the less likely its
emission.

5. The more exchange relations have been established,

the more likely they are to be governed by norms of
fair exchange.

6. The less norms of fairness are realized in an

exchange, the more are deprived parties disposed to
sanction negatively those violating the norms.

7. The more stabilized and balanced some exchange

relationships among social units, the more likely
other exchange relations are to become imbalanced
and unstable. (pp. 267-268)

Blau has incorporated elements from a variety of sources, such

as functionalism, interactionism, conflict, and other exchange theo-

ries as Turner (1974) points out. Blau's theory came under attack

because of eclecticism, vagueness, and non-systematic presentation

which have apparently hindered both theoretical refinement and empir-

ical research.

For both theorists (Blau and Homans) , what is important is that

each party receives in the exchange something perceived as equivalent

to that which is given: for Homans, it is distributive justice; for

Blau, it is fair exchange.

The Social Solidarity Model

Containment Theories

While the above theories have stressed the importance of the

rational component of social control, containment theories (e.g.,

Nye, 1958; Reckless, 1961; Reckless & Dinitz, 1967; Reiss, 1951)

and bonding theorists (Hirschi, 1969), as well as role relationship

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 33

theory (Friday & Hage, 1976; Toby, 1957) have stressed the solidar-

ity component of social control. Control theorists have drawn upon

the writings of 18th and 19th century social philosophers who viewed

human beings as basically antisocial. Thus, deviance is part of the

natural order in society, and norm violations are basically attractive

and exciting to most people. Consequently, most people are naturally

motivated to deviate, and our task is to explain their conformity.

Reiss (1951) has stated that "delinquency may be defined as the

behavior consequent to the failure of personal and social controls to

produce behavior in conformity with the norms of the social system to

which legal penalties are attached" (p. 196). Thus, Reiss presented

a tautological definition of delinquency, based on the failure of

integrating individuals to the society. In other words, deviance is a

result of society's failure.

The best known containment theory was presented in a classic pa-

per in 1961 by Reckless, and later by Reckless and Dinitz (1967).

Reckless (1961) sought to explain delinquency in terms of both ex-

ternal and internal factors. He described these factors as follows:

Inner containment consists mainly of self-components such as

self-control, good self-concept, ego strength, well-developed
superego, high frustration tolerance, high resistance to
diversions, high sense of responsibility, goal orientation,
ability to find substitute satisfactions, tension-reducing
rationalization, and so on. These are the inner-regulators.
On the other hand "outer containment" represents the struc-
tural buffer in the person's immediate social world which is
able to hold him within bounds. It consists of such items as
a presentation of a consistent moral front to the person,
institutional reinforcement of his norms, goals, and expecta-
tions, the existence of a reasonable set of social expecta-
tions, effective supervision and discipline (social controls),
provision for reasonable scope of activity (including limits
and responsibilities) as well as for alternatives and

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 34

safety-valves, opportunity for acceptance, identification,

and belongingness. (pp. 44-45)

As a result of this scheme of theorizing, Reckless and Dinitz

(1967) sought to verify their premises by conducting a series of

studies, aiming to demonstrate that self-concept (a concept missing

in Reiss' theory) played a significant role in preventing delin-

quency. Tangri and Schwartz (1967) have cited three major deficien-

cies in Reckless' theory: (1) methodological, (2) measurement problem

of self-concept, and (3) inadequate theoretical linkage between self-

concept and delinquency. In spite of these deficiencies, Reckless'

containment theory has provided an alternative interpretation of

deviance to the deterministic image, or class-biased interpretation

of Cohen, (1955), Miller, (1958), and Cloward and Ohlin (1960).

Bonding Theories

According to this group of theories, conformity is the conse-

quence of the social bond, and crime occurs only when the bonds to

society are weak or broken (Hirschi, 1969; Nye, 1958; Toby, 1957).

Crime or delinquency also occurs with loss of role relationships

(Friday & Hage, 1976; Hage & Marwell, 1968; Marwell & Hage, 1970);

neutralized behavior (Sykes & Matza, 1957); episodically released

bonds (Matza, 1964); or being overcome by situational inducements

(Briar & Piliavin, 1965). The description of the relationship between

an individual and society has been defined using many terms (e.g., bond,

role relationship, attachment, neutralization, etc.). In spite of these

different terms, the above mentioned theorists have sought to explain

the linkage interaction between individual and society.

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 35

Nye (1958) has suggested that parent-adolescent relationships

are especially significant for social control and the prevention of

delinquency. He proposed a multi-causal theory which focuses upon

inadequate social control in accounting for delinquency among youth.

He stated that "when internal and external controls are weak and

alternate routes to goal achievement are restricted, delinquent beha-

vior can be anticipated" (p. 4). Toby (1957) has described teenagers

as differing in terms of their "stage in conformity" or, in other

words, what a person risks losing by being detected in deviant beha-

vior. Toby suggested that all of us are tempted by what we resist

to the extent that we feel we have much to lose by deviant behavior.

Hage and Marwell (1968), Marwell and Hage (1970), and Friday and

Hage (1976) have pointed out the importance of understanding the

patterns of role relationships of adolescents and how these role

relationships affect a youth's integration into society. Instead of

the term "bond," they used the term "role" which seems more dynamic.

However, Friday and Hage (1976) argued that their "approach is quite

different from that of Hirschi (1969), who was also inspired by Durk-

heim but put most of the emphasis on attitudes, such as attachment,

rather than behavior, as represented by role relationship variables,

although a role relationship perspective is implied in Hirschi's study

of juvenile delinquency" (p. 349).

Friday and Hage (1976) have cited five major patterns of role

relationships. These are:

(1) kin relationships--including the extended family, (2)

community or neighbors, (3) school, (4) work, and (5) peers
not otherwise defined by the four other categories.

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 36

Subsequently, if an individual has intimate role relationships

in all five roles, they are much less likely to engage in
youth crime, or as the intimacy declines (parallel to bond)
both within certain areas and across all of them, the youth is
less integrated into society and more likely to be involved in
various kinds of crime. (p. 350)

According to Sykes and Matza (1957), much delinquency is based

on what is essentially an unrecognized extension of defenses to

crimes, in the form of justification or rationalization for deviance

that is seen as valid by the delinquent but not by the legal system.

For Sykes and Matza, delinquency is the individual's ability to

rationalize or justify the moral order expressed by the law. These

justifications either precede or follow deviant behavior to protect

the individual from self-blame and the blame of others after the act.

Sykes and Matza have labeled these justifications "techniques of

neutralization" which they divide into five major types: (1) the

denial of responsibility, (2) the denial of injury, (3) the denial of

the victim, (4) the condemnation of the condemners, and (5) the appeal

to higher loyalties (Sykes & Matza, 1957, pp. 664-670). See litera-

ture review on Hirschi (1969) later in this chapter.

Matza (1964) severely attacked the positivistic paradigm in

understanding delinquency. For him, the delinquent is an individual,

much like his peers, who swings or drifts between conformity and

deviance. Thus, he rejected the deterministic explanation of deviant

behavior by stating that:

The periodic breaking of the moral order bind to law ar~s~ng

from neutralization and resulting in drift does not assure
the commission of a delinquent act. Drift makes delinquency
possible or permissible by temporarily removing the restraints
that ordinarily control members of society, but of itself
supplies no irreversible commitment or compulsion that would

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 37

suffice to thrust the person into the act--I wish to suggest

that the missing element which provides the thrust or impetus
by which the delinquent act is realized is will. (p. 181)

Of the preceding versions of control theory, Hirschi's (1969)

is the most thoroughly developed. Hirschi's theory and its empirical

testing will be discussed next in more detail.

Drawing upon the writings of Durkheim, Nye, Toby, and others,

Hirschi specified four elements of the bond to society: (l) the

effective attachment to conventional others, (2) a rational commit-

ment to conventional activities, (3) involvement in conventional

activities, and (4) belief in the personal legitimacy of the law.

In Hirschi's theory, attachment is defined as sensitivity to the

opinions of others. Hirschi (1969) stated, "if a person does not

care about the wishes and expectations of other people--then he

is to that extent not bound by the norms. He is free to deviate"

(p. 18). Respondents in Hirschi's study were asked many questions

to explore the relationship between attachment to parents and

delinquency involvement: (a) time spent with parents; (b) supervi-

sian by parents; (c) intimate communication between parents and child;

(d) affectional identification by the juvenile with his/her parents;

and (e) emotional support by the parents (Hirschi, 1969, pp. 88-93).

However, he discounted time as relatively unimportant and was slightly

displeased with the emotional support items in his study as being too

vague. Supervision was important as well as affectional identification

by the juvenile with his/her parents. The following question was asked

to examine identification with parents and delinquent behavior:

"Would you like to be the kind of person your father is?" He found

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 38

64% of those who answered in "every way" compared to 41% who answer-

ed "not at all" to the question, scored low on the delinquency index.

Hirschi (1969) also found that "among his males the relationship be-

tween affection for mother and self-reported delinquency is stronger

than the relationship between affection for father and self-reported

delinquency" (p. 92).

Hirschi (1969) argues that attachment to the school is an arti-

fact of successful bonding to the conventional order; and he postu-

lates that attachment to school is similarly related to delinquency.

Here he argues that "the boy who sees himself as capable of doing

well in school will find school tolerable regardless of his ability

as measured in a more objective fashion" (p. 117). In order to test

this hypothesis, the subjects were asked to rate their academic abil-

ity in relation to other students in the school. He found that 13%

of those who rated themselves "among the best" and 35% of those who

rated themselves "below average" scored high on the delinquency

index.

In order to assess the bond to school, Hirschi asked the re-

spondents to respond to the following questions: "In general, do you

like or dislike school?" (possible responses were "like," "neither

like nor dislike," and "dislike"). According to his findings, 68% of

those who reported "liking school," reported no delinquent behavior,

compared to 33% of those who reported "disliking school."

In connection with the school, and in order to test the bond

(attachment) to conventional figures, Hirschi asked the respondents

to answer the following question: "Do you care what teachers think

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 39

of you?" (possible responses were "a lot," "some," and "not much").

According to his findings, 66% who reported "caring a lot" reported

low delinquent involvement, and 35% who reported "caring not much"

reported low delinquent involvement. Therefore, the findings which

focused on attachment or the bond with the teacher seem significant

in deterring delinquency.

Hirschi (1969) stated that "both differential association and

control theory predict that the delinquent behavior of one's own

friends is strongly related to one's own delinquency behavior"

(p. 98). This hypothesis confirmed or supported his expectations

because 73% of his subjects who reported having "no close friends

picked up by the police" scored low on reported delinquency behavior,

and 25% who reported having "four or more friends picked up by the

police" scored low on reported delinquency behavior.

The fact that the significant others of any individual are par-

ents or friends is relevant. If an individual is strongly attached

to his/her peers, that individual is also more likely to be strongly

attached to his/her parents. Hirschi's results have supported his

position; as attachment to mother increases, so does attachment to

peers. Hirschi postulated that the greater the peer attachment, the

lower the reported delinquency involvement. Sixty-four percent of

those who reported identifying "in most ways" with their friends

reported low delinquent involvement, and 47% of those who reported

identifying least closely and "not at all" with their friends re-

ported low delinquent involvement.

According to Hirschi's theory, both aspirations and

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 40

expectations of achieving higher education or a high-status occupa-

tion wererelated to nondelinquency. These hypotheses were inter-

preted as supporting the contentions of Toby (1957) and Briar and

Piliavin (1965) that those with a higher stake in conformity will

be more likely to resist delinquent temptations, which contradict

the strain theorists (Cloward & Ohlin, 1960; Cohen, 1955; Merton,

1937).

Hirschi argued that involvement in adult activities including

smoking, drinking and dating are related to delinquent involvement.

Among those who reported having begun smoking before age 13, 25%

scored low on reported delinquent involvement; 64% who reported not

smoking scored low on reported delinquent involvement. Also, Hirschi

argued that drinking is more strongly related to delinquency than

smoking and that dating is also strongly related to delinquency.

On the other hand, Hirschi speculated that involvement in adult

activities is indicative of commitment to the conventional student

status. Hirschi's argument (1969) is that "evidence of involvement

in school is traditionally measured by time spent in and concern for

homework" (p. 191). In general, there is a monotonic increase in

the proportion of those scoring medium or high on reported delinquent

involvement as the number of hours per day spent on homework decrea-

ses from one and one-half hours (34%) to one hour (48%), one-half

hour (52%), and to less than one-half hour (64%). The second measure

to test the commitment to academic activities is the importance that

the respondent personally attaches to achieving good grades. Among

those who reported viewing grades as being very important to

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 41

themselves personally, 64% reported low delinquent involvement, and

among those who reported viewing grades as unimportant, 21% reported

low delinquent involvement. Thus, those who have a stake in school

performance are less likely to engage in delinquent activities.

Engrossment in conventional activities should absorb time avail-

able for delinquent activities. However, as mentioned above, of sev-

eral measures of involvement, only time spent on homework had a con-

sistent and reasonably strong inverse relationship with delinquency

(see commitment to school). Other measures of involvement (working

for pay, dating, feeling that "there is nothing to do," and time

spent watching television, reading comic books, talking with friends,

and riding around in cars) were related to delinquency only weakly,

spuriously, or in the wrong direction. Hirschi concluded that "we

must consider, then, what the child is doing, and assiduously avoid

the idea that doing 'something'--anything--is better than, that is,

inhibitive of, the commission of delinquent acts" (Hirschi, 1969,

pp. 190-191). The problem with such measures of involvement is that

they also may be conceptualized as measures of attachment or commit-

ment.

The final element of the social bonding theory is belief. Hir-

schi argued that belief in the legitimacy of the moral order inhibits

delinquency, while the absence of such belief encourages it. "Belief

in the moral validity of the law is consistently related to the mea-

sures of attachment and commitment discussed earlier" (Hirschi, 1969,

p. 203).

Except for the appeal to higher loyalties (which was not tested)

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 42

and the denial of the victim, Hirschi's findings supported his

theory. He found that each of the techniques of neutralization

(Sykes & Matza, 1957) was related to delinquency. He asked his

subjects to respond to the statement, "It is all right to get around

the law if you can get away with it." Controlling for various mea-

sures of attachment and commitment suggested that the relationship

between the various techniques of neutralization and deviant behavior

were genuine. Seventy percent of those who strongly agreed with that

statement scored medium or high on reported delinquent behavior.

Respect for the police was another measure of belief. Twenty-

nine percent of those who strongly agreed that they have a lot of

respect for the police, and 66% of those who strongly disagreed

scored medium or high on reported delinquent behavior. Another

technique of neutralization is denial of responsibility. An item

designed to measure this is the statement, "Most criminals should

not be blamed for the things they have done." A second item to

measure denial of responsibility is "1 cannot seem to stay out of

trouble no matter how hard :;: try." Fifty-one percent of those who

reported strong agreement with the first item scored medium on re-

ported delinquent involvement, and 39% of those who reported strong

disagreement with the second item of denial of responsibility report-

ed medium or high delinquent involvement. With respect to denial of

injury, Hirschi (1969, p. 208) asked for responses to the statement,

"Most things people call delinquenc~· don't really hurt anyone." The

results of this statement are as follows: Those most strongly agree-

ing with the statement reported most delinquent involvement (72%);

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 43

and those who strongly disagreed with the statement reported least

delinquent involvement (31%).

Denial of the victim was measured by the following item: "The

man who leaves his keys in the car is as much to blame for its theft

as the man who steals it." Results for this item (mentioned earlier)

did not support Hirschi's theory: the percentages reported were 44%

and 37% respectively. And the final item of technique of neutraliza-

tion reported by Hirschi is condemning the condemners. Hirschi test-

ed this by stating "policemen try to give all kids an even break."

The results showed a moderate relationship between agreement with

the item and reported delinquent behavior: 35% and 58% respectively.

In a quasi-replicated study of Hirschi's bonding theory, Hinde-

lang (1973) conducted research on groups of male and female students

in grades six through twelve of one school in a rural area in upstate

New York. The county in which the school studied is located has no

town with a population greater than 4,400 and has a population dens-

ity of 39 inhabitants per square mile. This is contrasted with Con-

tra Costa, California which is a city with a population of 8,500 and a

density of 756 inhabitants per square mile (Hirschi's study). Hinde-

lang had 978 students respond to a self-report questionnaire. Nine

hundred and forty one produced a usable questionnaire.

According to Hindelang's findings, attachment to parents and

reported delinquent involvement were related. Sixty-one percent of

the rural males who wanted to be like their parents "in every way"

and 36% of those who answered "not at all" scored low on the delin-

quency index. With respect to affection for mother and self-reported

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 44

delinquency, Hindelang's findings indicated that affection for

mother is a stronger deterrent than affection for father in predict-

ing delinquent behavior. Seventy-nine percent of those who answered

that they wish to be like their mothers "in every way" but only 36%

of those who answered "not at all" scored low in self-reported delin-

quency. Moreover, Hindelang did not find any differences with re-

spect to parental attachment--whether to mother or father. Thus,

among Hindelang's rural students, attachment to parents was related

to reported delinquent behavior as Hirschi expected.

As mentioned earlier, Hirschi assessed the bond to the school

with the question, "In general, do you like school or dislike school?"

Hindelang's subjects' responses were: 63% of the rural males who

reported liking school and 45% of the rural males who reported dis-

liking school reported low delinquent involvement. At the same time,

67% of the rural females who reported liking school and 41% of the

rural females who reported disliking school reported low delinquent

involvement. Also, Hindelang assessed the bond between teachers and

students as part of the school setting by asking the question, "Do

you care what teachers think of you?" Responses could vary from "a

lot" to "not much." Among Hindelang's subjects, 70% of the rural

males and 67% of the rural females who reported "caring a lot",

reported low on delinquent involvement. Thus, Hindelang concluded

that the bond with the teacher is closely related to self-reported

delinquent involvement.

Hirschi predicts that the delinquent behavior of one's own

friends is strongly related to one's own delinquent behavior.

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 45

Hirschi and Hindelang's findings supported this position. Eighty

percent of the rural males who reported having no close friends

picked up by the police scored low on self-reported delinquent

involvement, while 26% of the rural males who reported having four

or more friends picked up by the police scored low on delinquent

involvement. Figures for rural females were weaker: 75% and 31%

respectively. Moreover, Hirschi suggested that the greater the peer

attachment, the lower the reported delinquent involvement.

The results of Hindelang's study did not support Hirschi's

position. Of those who reported identifying most closely with their

friends, 49% reported low delinquent involvement while 67% of those

identifying least closely with their friends reported low delinquent

involvement. Hirschi's figures were 64% and 47% respectively.

Hindelang (1973) speculated "that among rural subjects che charact-

eristics of those to whom one is attached may be necessary before a

consistent relationship will emerge" (p. 479).

Hirschi stated that aspirations to achieve conventional goals

constrain delinquency, unlike the assumptions of strain theory.

Thus, Hirschi assessed involvement in adult activities by adolescents,

predicting that activities such as smoking, dating, and drinking could

lead to illegal behavior. With respect to Hindelang's findings, 28%

of the rural males and 30% of the rural females who reported having

begun smoking before age 13 scored low on reported delinquent in-

volvement; and for those who reported not smoking, 68% of the rural

males and 71% of the rural females scored low on reported delinquent

involvement.

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 46

Combining the three adult activities for rural males, only 16%

of those who did not report any of these activities scored medium or

high on reported delinquent involvement while 73% of those who smok-

ed, drank, and dated reported medium or high delinquent involvement.

Thus, Hindelang questioned this aspect of Hirschi's theory.

Furthermore, Hirschi examined the commitment to academic activi-

ties and delinquent involvement by testing the importance that the

subject attaches to good grades. Both Hirschi and Hindelang's find-

ings confirmed this position. Sixty-six percent of Hindelang's rural

males who reported viewing grades as being very important and 65% of

rural females who reported the same also reported low delinquent in-

volvement. For those who reported grades as completely unimportant,

21% of the rural males, and 39% of the rural females reported low de-

linquent involvement. Thus, those who have a stake in school perfor-

mance for which delinquent behavior may endanger that status are less

inclined to engage in delinquent activities, as Hirschi predicted.

Hirschi measured involvement in school activities by time spent

on homework, as well as participation in nonacademic school activi-

ties which he predicted are inversely related to delinquent involve-

ment. Hindelang pointed out that there is a monotonic increase in

the proportion of those who scored medium or high on reported delin-

quent involvement as the number of hours per day spent on homework

decreased from one and one-half hours to one hour, to one-half hour,

and to less than one-half hour. Hindelang's (1973) findings are 39%,

40%, 55%, 53% for rural males; and 35%, 45%, 45%, 67% for rural

females--very similar to Hirschi's findings (34%, 48%, 52%, 64%).

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 47

In another study, Linden and Hackler (1973) have developed a

delinquency model based on differential association theory, control

theory and affective ties theory that predict delinquent involvement.

They obtained data on 200 boys, ranging in age from 13-15 years, who

resided in four low-cost housing projects in Seattle, Washington.

They divided them into experimental and control groups for the pro-

gram, but they used both groups.

They measured attachment or ties to parents with 23 questions

dealing with closeness within the family. An average of these 23

responses was used as an indicator of the closeness of the boy and

his parents. On the other hand, ties to peers was measured by ask-

ing respondents how they felt about deviant and conventional peers,

respectively. As Hirschi predicted on the basis of control theory,

48.5% of those boys having weak or nonexistent ties with both con-

ventional peers and parents were delinquent uhile only 16.8% of

those who reported moderate or strong ties with both parents and

peers were delinquent.

Moreover, according to their findings, 42.9% of those who re-

ported weak or nonexistent ties to any of the three groups (delin-

quent peers, nondelinquent peers, and parents) reported themselves

as delinquent. And of those boys with weak ties to conventional

associates but with moderate or strong ties to deviant peers, 58.3%

were delinquent as self-reported.

Linden and Fillmore (1981) undertook a parallel study to

Hirschi's based on a sample of all tenth-grade students (n = 1152)

attending the two senior high schools serving the highest

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 48

socioeconomic area of the city, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, (n =

1152). Their primary aim was to demonstrate that studies of delin-

quency done in one modern society could be generalized to other

modern societies and their secondary goal was to more adequately

combine elements of control and differential association theories of

delinquency.

According to the two Canadian scholars, differential associa-

tion has failed to explain why some teenagers have delinquent friends

and others do not. Also, differential association suffered from re-

search evidence that teenagers often begin their delinquent activi-

ties before they begin substantial association with other delin-

quents. On the other hand, Hirschi found that having delinquent

friends had no impact on some teenagers (considering other bonds or

roles in Friday and Hage's theory). Linden and Fillmore sought to

repair these shortcomings of differential association by combining

it with control theory. According to their model, teenagers with

low stakes in conformity have little to lose by association with

other delinquents, and that such association will further amplify

their delinquency as they learn new criminal techniques and are

reinforced for new acts of deviance.

Linden and Fillmore compared the delinquency of Richmond, On-

tario, Canada and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada teenagers based on self-

reported data. They found more serious offenses reported by Rich-

mond's sample than in Edmonton (e.g., auto thefts 10.8 to 5.9 in

Edmonton). But generally, the data are very similar.

Stakes in conformity are measured on the basis of attachment

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 49

to parents and liking school. They found that in both Edmonton and

Richmond these items were negatively correlated with being delinquent

and with having delinquent friends, and in both nations, those with

delinquent friends were more apt to be delinquents. Finally, their

reformulated model fit those data well. In both Canada and the

United States low stakes in conformity seemed to lead to the forma-

tion of attachments to delinquent peers. The correlation for Rich-

mond males was .30 and females .24, but for the Canadian teenagers

the correlations were .11 and .20 respectively.

Jensen (1972) reanalyzed Hirschi's (1969) data, focusing on the

relationship among parents, peers, and delinquency, but used more

extensive measures of availability of delinquent patterns. He tried

to go beyond Hirschi to a more explicit test of differential asso-

ciation theory. Two major hypotheses were investigated: (1) does

parental control affect delinquency directly as Hirschi predicted or

indirectly by influencing the probability of learning delinquent

definitions as differential association suggested? and (2) do delin-

quent peers foster delinquency directly as suggested by the group

process and situationally induced motive theories (Briar & Piliavin,

1965; Short & Strodtbeck, 1965), or indirectly by exposing a boy to

delinquent behavior patterns as differential association theorists

have argued.

In order to measure the availability of delinquent patterns,

Jensen (1972) used official delinquency rates in schools, perceptions

of trouble in the neighborhood and number of delinquent friends. Fur-

thermore, he used four items to represent Sutherland's (1947)

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 so
definitions favorable to violation of the law.

According to his findings, with respect to the first hypothesis,

when the differential association variables are held constant, the

parental control variables (father's supervision and father's support)

still depressed delinquency. Jensen (1972) concluded that "control

theory is supported over differential association" (p. 574). With

reference to the second hypothesis, he found that "the number of

delinquent friends affected delinquency independently of the effect

of delinquent definitions. Again, he concluded that group process

and situational motives theories are empirically superior to differ-

ential association theory" (p. 574).

However, Jensen's findings should be approached carefully with

the realization that he didn't intend to test both theories expli-

citly. Moreover, Matsueda (1982) pointed out that Jensen's study

left several questions unanswered:

First, does measurement error in the indicators of the ratio

of delinquent and antidelinquent definitions seriously at-
tenuate their effects on delinquency? Second, given that
Sutherland (1947) invented the differential association
principle in part to account for certain variations in crime
rates--variations according to age, social class, broken
homes, and neighborhoods--can it in fact do so? And third,
is the substantive picture distorted because Jensen's three
tables fail to capture more complex relationships among
relevant variables? (p. 491).

Caplan and Leblanc (1985) replicated Hirschi's study on a sample

of 1,472 male adolescents attending public high schools on the Island

of Montreal, Canada. According to their findings with respect to

attachment to parents, a negative relationship between affectional

identification with father and delinquency (gamma: -.24), and affec-

tional identification with mother and delinquency (gamma: -.12), was

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 51

very similar. They also found that adolescents with positive atti-

tudes toward school demonstrated the greatest variation in their

delinquent involvement, suggesting that a positive attitude toward

school had the greatest impact on delinquent involvement (gamma =

.26, in Hirschi's study, it was -.41) (p. 126).

With respect to attachment to teachers in the Canadian study,

whether an individual expressed concern about teachers' opinions of

him/her or did not, those opinions had little effect on hisfher

involvement in delinquent acts. Twenty-one percent of those who

cared "a lot" reported involvement in two or more acts, while for

those subjects who reported "not much" concern, 28% admitted two or

more delinquent acts. In sum, the Canadian findings with respect to

the level of concern for teachers' opinions did not affect the adol-

escent's involvement in delinquent acts (gamma= -.04).

Caplan and Leblanc examined the distribution of delinquent

friends in their study, and found certain differences across samples.

In the American studies (Hindelang, 1973; Hirschi, 1969), 48.1% of

Hirschi's sample had delinquent friends, and 63% of Hindelang's sam-

ple also had delinquent friends. This was in contrast with the Cana-

dian study in which only 27.1% had delinquent friends. Moreover,

less than 25% of all three samples listed one or two delinquent

friends.

With respect to involvement in conventional activities, Caplan

and Leblanc found a negative relationship between time spent doing

homework and involvement in delinquent activities. They found 62%

of the adolescents who reported spending less than one half hour a

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 52

day on their homework admitted one or more delinquent acts, compared

to 64% of Hirschi's sample who reported the same level of delinquent

involvement. The second aspect of involvement is participation in

adult activities in which they found that 42% of those adolescents

not involved in smoking, drinking and dating were not involved in

delinquent behavior, while 55% of those who dated and drank com-

mitted one or more delinquent acts.

Finally, the belief component explains the highest proportion

of the variance with the variable of moral duty to obey the law con-

sistently being the most powerful belief item with all four independ-

ent variables. In sum, by examining the overall explanatory power

of the theory for four items in the deviant behavior scale: (1) fre-

quency of alcohol and marijuana use, (2) frequency of use of stronger

drugs, (3) minor delinquent behavior (e.g., vandalism), and (4) ser-

ious delinquent behaviors, moderate support for the theory was

reported.

Conger (1976) utilized data collected from two surveys. The

first was done in Seattle, Washington at the Seattle Atlantic Street

Center in 1964. A total of 374 seventh graders in two schools were

surveyed; 221 blacks, 104 whites, 38 orientals, and 11 of mixed

racial background. The second survey was done in 1965 and the sample

was comprised of 1,588 white males out of the original sample of 5,545

(the same data used by Hirschi, 1969).

Conger's (1976) study attempted to go beyond the social control

perspective. Specifically, he tried to show how social interaction

processes can affect delinquent behavior. The joint influences of

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 53

parents and peers and how they relate to delinquent behavior was

explored. However, as Conger pointed out, his study didn't intend

to test the two models. As a result, his findings should be

approached very carefully.

According to Conger's (1976) findings, attachment and delin-

quency supported the social learning theory's assertion that no real

prediction can be made unless the type of peer is taken into account.

In other words, attachment to conventional peers tends to decrease

delinquency involvement and attachment to delinquent peers increases

delinquency involvement. The same principle is applicable for

attachment to parents.

Conger (1976) found that "the actual parental behavior, not the

simple existence of juvenile communication or identification with

parents, is the most important part of the bond between parent and

child which protects against delinquency involvement" (p. 36). How-

ever, Conger didn't use the five elements of the bond between parent

and child to test attachment to parents and delinquency involvement;

only communication and identification were used. However, Hirschi

(1969) addressed the shortcomings of his study by stating that "con-

trol theory is supported with two exceptions. First, involvement in

conventional activities was not as important as the theory predicts

in delinquency prevention. Second, the influence of delinquent peers

has an importance in the commission of delinquent acts not predict-

able from the current formulation of control theory" (pp. 230-231).

The importance of Conger's study stems from addressing peer attach-

ment and delinquency involvement.

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 54

Hepburn (1977) combined the causal structure of social control

theory (Hirschi, 1969) and Sutherland's (1947) theory of differential

association by using correlational data of 139 males, aged 14-17 in

a medium-sized industrial city. He used four variables to test the

two models: (1) lack of family support, (2) delinquent definitions,

(3) delinquent associates, and (4) delinquent behavior.

According to Hepburn's (1977) findings, Sutherland's (1947) cau-

sal structure depends upon delinquent associates to mediate between

poor family support and delinquent definitions. Empirical support

was not found for such a position. On the other hand, the findings

supported Hirschi's (1969) view that delinquent definitions, whether

using behavioral constraint or willingness to engage in delinquency,

precede having delinquent associates in terms of importance. More-

over, Hepburn praised the affective model presented by Linden and

Hackler (1973) mentioned above, which provides greater clarity for

reformulating Hirschi's causal model of delinquency.

In an attempt to explain the differential rates of delinquency

between rural and urban areas, Lyerly and Skipper (1981) have used

the social control theory of Hirschi, not only to investigate the

differences, but also to measure the extent of delinquency involve-

ment and degree of commitment to five institutional orders:

(1) family, (2) church, (3) school, (4) peers, and (5) formal author-

ity. The combination of these institutional orders and of the indi-

vidual's perception of his/her relationship to them comprised the

social bond which insulates the youth from delinquency.

Lyerly and Skipper's data were drawn from anonymous self-reported

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 55

reported questionnaires administered by the principle researchers to

urban and rural teenagers who were being officially detained (insti-

tutionalized) and held in two separate juvenile detention centers in

Southwestern Virginia. The first center serves the rural counties of

Giles, Pulaski, and Montgomery. The second facility is located in

Roanoke and serves both the city and the county. One hundred white

male juveniles participated in the study; blacks and females were

excluded because of their small numbers.

According to their findings, among the sample of rural and urban

offenders, a strong inverse relationship was found between the compo-

site commitment scores and devianc behavior. Only commitment to fam-

ily did not prove to be statistically significant. Lyerly and Skip-

per explained these findings by indicating that only 33% of the total

sample lived with parents. Commitment to school and legal authority

was most strongly associated with delinquent behavior, and rural of-

fenders were more strongly committed to conformity than urban offend-

ers. No difference was reported between rural and urban youngsters

with respect to legal authority, but rural boys reported less serious

and less frequent involvement in delinquent activity than did urban

boys. Justification for these findings included the idea "that the

urban sample may b~ more typical of the majority of urban youngsters

who live in the metropolitan sections of the nation" (Lyerly & Skip-

per, 1981, p. 398). In sum, the two researchers concluded that both

theory and data suggest that control theory remains a promising one

to explain delinquent behavior in different settings.

Krohn and Massey (1980) replicated Hirschi's (1969) study on a

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 56

sample of 3,065 male and female adolescents in grades 7 through 12

in six communities in three midwestern states to examine the overall

and relative effects of social bonding theory on four separate mea-

sures of deviance.

Attachment was measured by three scales: (1) maternal attach-

ment, (2) paternal attachment, and (3) peer attachment. The ques-

tions comprising these scales were similar to those used by Hirschi

and represent the components of supervision, praise, discouragement,

closeness, and satisfaction. The findings concerning attachment to

friends, and attachment to mother and father are small. The commit-

ment element was measured by the following activities: (a) school

work, (b) athletics, (c) musical groups, (d) pep groups, (e) other

school activities, and (f) community clubs.

Responses ranged from "very important" to "not important at all"

and when combined generated a range of scores from high commitment

(28) to low commitment (7). Furthermore, the G.P.A. (Grade Point

Average) as an indicator of commitment was included. Other measures

of commitment, such as educational aspirations and the importance of

a good career were similar to Hirschi's. However, Krohn and Massey

(1980) included the element of involvement within the element of com-

mitment, arguing that both involvement and Hirschi's notion of at-

tachment to school should be one concept.

With respect to their findings concerning commitment, with the

exception of the minor substance use scale, the commitment component

explained a higher proportion of the variance than did attachment and

belief. And among the most powerful indicators were the commitment

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 57

index and G.P.A.

The final element of the social bond is belief and it was mea-

sured by three items related to the degree of agreement or dis-

agreement respondents have with parental norms, legal norms, and

belief in the value of education. From the findings, for minor

substance use, the belief component explains the highest proportion

of the variance with the variable of moral duty to obey the law

consistently being the most powerful belief item with all dependent

variables (frequency of alcohol and marijuana use, use of stronger

drugs, minor delinquent behavior, e.g., running away), and serious

delinquent behavior (e.g., theft of things worth $2 to $50).

In sum, for alcohol and marijuana use, the theory accounts for

29% of the variance, whereas for more serious forms of substance use,

the theory accounts for 17% of the variance. Finally, for hard drug

use, 16% of the variance was explained and for serious delinquency,

18% of the variance was explained by Krohn and Massey's (1980) study.

In contrast with Hirschi's study, the findings of the Krohn and

Massey study moderately supported the theory for all four deviant

behavior scales. It should be considered that attachment was the

weakest predictor while the new conceptualization of commitment was

the most powerful predictor of deviance, as well as the element of

belief. However, Krohn and Massey also demonstrated that the ele-

ments of the bond were more predictive of minor offenses than serious

offenses; and moreover, the commitment and belief elements were more

strongly related to female's deviant behavior than male's deviant

behavior.

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 58

Using the same criterion as Krohn and Massey (1980) to measure

social bonding theory, Krohn, Lanza-Kaduce, and Akers (1984) combin-

ed it with social learning perspective. They argued that social

bonding theory and social learning theory can be differentiated in

terms of the former's emphasis on the weakening of conventional bonds

and the latter's emphasis on the importance of the process of acquir-

ing and maintaining deviant definitions and behaviors.

Krohn's et al. (1984) data w~re collected as part of a larger

study of adolescent drug use and drinking: 3,065 male and female

students in 22 schools in seven midwestern communities representing

four different settings (rural farm community, rural non-farm com-

munity, suburb, and city) participated in this study.

Krohn's et al. objective was to examine the differences across

the rural-urban continuum on the variable suggested by both theories

on rates of deviant behavior, and to see the significant interaction

between social context and the variables in both theories. They as-

sumed that social learning variables will explain deviant behavior

equally across community contexts, and that any differences in rates

of delinquency will merely reflect different levels of reinforcement,

association with deviant others, and definitions favorable to devi-

ance found in the respective communities. On the other hand, the

social bonding variable might account for any delinquency differences

found across communities.

According to Krohn's et al. (1984) reported findings, with re-

spect to the social learning perspectives, the combination of the

following variables: (a) peer-association scale, (b) respondent's

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 59

own definitions, and (c) the reinforcement balance of good versus

bad consequences of use--explained 52% of the variance for marijuana

use and 68% of alcohol use. Also, the interactions between the

definitions of both farm and city variables were significant in the

analysis for the four communities. The explained variance for the

farm and city was increased, due to the contribution of the defini-

tions variable. Consequently, "the assumption that there would be

no significant interaction in terms of the social learning analysis

was only partially true" (Krohn et al. 1984, p. 362).

With respect to the bonding variable, Krohn et al. regressed

alcohol and mariJuana on bonding variables in each of the communi-

ties with separate regression runs, and found that for alcohol use,

the social bonding variables accounted for the most variance in the

farm community and the least in the nonfarm community. Similar anal-

yses of marijuana use were run, and they found the bonding variables

were slightly less effective in the farm community than in the non-

farm and suburban communities. In contrast with the social learning

theory, they found a higher explained variance for marijuana use than

for alcohol use in the farm community. In sum, "almost all of the

bonding variables showed a significant relationship to the dependent

variable in some, but not all cases. Community context and social

learning variables didn't interact with context, and finally, the

farm and suburban areas were similar, and the nonfarm and urban areas

were more alike than either of the other two contexts" (1984, p. 361).

Virtually most replications of Hirschi's (1969) theory have used

cross-sectional data. According to Agnew (1985), "this is a serious

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 60

problem, ~9cause, as many researchers have noted, there is good rea-

son to believe that delinquency has a causal impact on social bonds"

(p. 49). Agnew points out that delinquency may lead to family and

school problems, thereby lowering attachment. Delinquency may also

jeopardize the adolescent's current and future involvement in con-

ventional activities, thereby lowering commitment. Finally, delin-

quency may reduce the adolescent's belief in conventional values

through a hardening process of the type described by Minor (1984).

It is possible that a large part of the "correlation between delin-

quency and the social bonds is due to the causal impact of delin-

quency" (p. 48). Agnew (1985) concluded that cross-sectional

research has exaggerated the importance of the theory's capability

to explain delinquency. The alternative as suggested by him, is a

longitudinal study.

Agnew (1985) used data from the Youth in Transition Survey, a

national longitudinal survey of adolescent boys conducted by the

Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan. The

first wave of data collection started in the fall of 1966 when the

subjects were beginning the lOth grade, using a multistage sampling

procedure. An unbiased sample of 2,213 tenth grade boys was selected

in public high schools throughout the nation. The second wave of

data collection started in the spring of 1968, near the end of the

lOth grade for the selected subjects. The total sample was 1,886

boys, which was 85.2% of the Time 1 Sample.

Agnew (1985) measured delinquency by two self-report scales

adopted from Gold (1966). The first was the 26-item "Total

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 61

Delinquency" scale used by Wiatrowski et al. (1981). This scale

included a variety of delinquent acts including interpersonal

aggression, theft, and vandalism. Agnew (1985) wanted to verify

the findings of Krohn and Massey (1980) which indicated that control

theory best explains minor delinquency. To facilitate this attempt

he used another scale. The second scale was called "Seriousness of

Delinquency." In this scale, 20 items were used which dealt with

minor and serious offenses: (a) theft, (b) fighting, (c) arson, and

(d) robbery. According to his findings, total variance explained by

the total delinquency scale was 28.5% and 14.7% of the variance was

explained by the seriousness of delinquency scale. The results of

the total delinquency scale were similar to Wiatrowski's et al.

(1981). Both studies were based on the same sample. However,

Wiatrowski et al. (1981) were able to explain slightly more of the

variance through the use of the Total Delinquency Scale. Agnew

(1985) attributed that to the inclusion of the SES variable. At any

rate, the findings supported Krohn and Massey's conclusions (1980),

that control theory is most effective in explaining minor delin-

quency.

Agnew's (1985) regression results indicated that only three of

the control variables have a significant effect on Time 2 Total De-

linquency, with one effect significant at only the .05 level.

Grades and beliefs have a negative effect on delinquency and dating

has a positive effect. By examining the amount of variance explain-

ed by the control theory variables over and above Time 1 delinquency,

Agnew found that these variables account for 1.5% of the variance in

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 62

Time 2 seriousness of delinquency and 1. 8% of the va.~iance in Time

2 total delinquency. Thus, longitudinal regressions have a very

small impact on Time 2 delinquency.

Further testing and different interpretations were reported to

explain the low amount of variance explained. Agnew (1985) reported

the "panel analysis was subjected to a number of sources of bias, and

certain of these biases may account for the small effect of control

theory" (p. 54). However, Agnew concluded after presenting his three

different explanations that they are not mutually exclusive and the

findings should be approached very carefully. Longitudinal regres-

sion results were very damaging, yielding support for his argument

that the importance of the theory was exaggerated, and its ability

to explain minor delinquency as Krohn and Massey (1980) concluded is

supported. Also, Agnew indicated that social control theory is un-

important in predicting delinquency among middle to older adolescents,

but may be more important in predicting delinquency among younger

adults. Moreover, the regressions indicated that the control vari-

ables were able to explain only from l-2% of the variance in future

delinquency. Finally, Agnew (1985) suggested that "the small effect

of the control variable was attributed to such things as the causal

impact of delinquency on social control, the high stability of delin-

quency among the adolescents in the sample, and the declining impor-

tance of Hirschi's social control variable among older adolescents"

(p. 54).

A longitudinal study was conducted by Wiatrowski et al. (1981),

using the same data that Agnew (1985) used. Wiatrowski et al. (1981)

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 63

suggested that Hirschi's (1969) study "raised three crucial issues:

(1) the extent to which Hirschi's four elements represent empirically

distinct components of socialization is unclear, (2) why are only

four elements of the bond identified when additional elements of the

bond could be considered, and (3) Hirschi fails to incorporate con-

structs such as family socioeconomic level, ability, and significant

others influenced that research has determined to be important in the

development for their aspiration" (p. 526).

In order to overcome these three weaknesses, Wiatrowski et al.

(1981) constructed measures of each of Hirschi's four elements and

estimated how much each element contributes over and above the others

to the explanation of delinquent behavior. Additionally, Wiatrowski

et al. (1981) examined the structure of the social bond very closely

by using factor analysis to discover and define new elements. Two

multivariate analyses were used, incorporating measures of social

class, ability, and grades as well as elements of the social bond.

The objectives of this study were twofold: (l) to extend and repli-

cate Hirschi's study, and (2) to develop and evaluate a revised

model.

According to Wiatrowski's et al. (1981) findings, "parental at-

tachment and school attachment have a strong negative relation with

delinquent, whereas for grades the coefficient was moderately nega-

tive, as would be predicted by control theory. Dating was strongly

related to delinquency as would be predicted by control theory" (p.

536). With respect to commitment variable, it did not exhibit the

strong negative effects predicted by Hirschi's control theory. The

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 64

strength of the involvement relationship was significant and in the

right direction. With respect to the belief variable, a moderate and

significant negative path coefficient was found. Moreover, "in the

context of statistical controls for ability, social class, and grades

in school, the bond elements which emerge as important explanatory

variables are attachment to parents, dating, attachment to school,

belief, and involvement" (p. 537).

When Wiatrowski et al. (1981) examined how the four elements of

the bond operate simultaneously, the zero-order correlations indicated

that larger correlations with Hirschi's four bond elements do exist,

with one exception, "the element of commitment to college and a high

status career" (p. 538). By examining how the four elements of the

bond operate simultaneously and with controls for ability and school

grades several components were found more important than others, such

as school, which meant that "the bond not only found in the family,

as Hirschi argues, but in part in an educational context" (p. 539).

Wiatrowski et al. (1981) found that social class and ability affect

both parental attachment and a set of school-related components of

the social bond which in turn affect belief (Hirschi found no rela-

tionship between social class and delinquency).

Wiatrowski et al. (1981) pointed out several limitations:

First, the causal ordering implied in the research is

questionable, in the sense that their measurement of the
delinquent behavior asked for reports on behavior over the
last three years (Hirschi asked about behavior over the last
academic year). A second potential limitation is the use of
a single, global measure of delinquency. This measure con-
tains some items pertaining to delinquent behavior in school,
and it is possible that apparent influence of attachment to
school and other school-linked variables on delinquency may

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 65

be due to the inclusion of these items. (p. 536)

Finally, the Wiatrowski et al. (1981) revised model was able to

explain 32.5% of the variables in delinquency, unlike Krohn and Massey

(1980) and Agnew (1985) who suggested that control theory is able to

explain only about 15% of the variance in moderately serious forms of

delinquency.

Another longitudinal study was conducted by Paternoster, Saltz-

man, Waldo, and Chiricos (1983) on a sample of three hundred college

students selected randomly from a list of freshmen enrolled at a ma-

jor state university who were interviewed by trained student inter-

viewers between January and June of 1975 (time 1) and one year later

(time 2).

Paternoster et al. (1983), combined deterrence, social bonding

and social learning theories to explain deviant behavior. With re-

spect to deterrence, respondents were asked to estimate their own

chances of getting arrested for each of five offenses, with response

options ranging on a five-point continuum from "very likely" to "very

unlikely." Social bonding elements were measured as follows: Com-

mitment was measured by the G.P.A. in the university as an indicator

of past investment. For future commitment, respondents were asked a

series of questions about whether they thought their involvement in

each of five illegal behaviors would reduce their chances of achiev-

ing: (a) good grades, (b) a college degree, (c) a high paying job,

(d) a secure job, (e) a position of leadership in school, (f) a good

marriage partner, (g) material well-being, and (h) peer acceptance.

To measure attachment, two scales were constructed. One measured

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 66

parental attachment, the second measured attachment to peers.

Respondents were asked to indicate how important it was that their

mothers, fathers, best friends, boy/girlfriends approve of the things

they do, how much influence the disapproval of these others would

have on their behavior, and finally, whether they would like to be

the same kind of person that these others are.

The third element is involvement, and Paternoster et al. (1983)

measured it by summing the number of hours per week that the respon-

dents reported that they spent studying, attending classes, or par-

ticipating in athletics, church affairs, and similar conventional

activities. And finally, belief was measured by asking respondents

to indicate if they thought it was always wrong to commit each of

five deviant acts. Response options for the five belief items ranged

on a five-point scale from ustrongly agreeu to ustrongly disagree.u

For the social learning perspective, they measured the degree

to which the respondent risked informal sanctions for five illegal

behaviors by asking them to indicate the reactions that their mothers,

fathers, best friends, boyjgirl friends would have if the respondent

were to commit each of them. Response options ranged from uhighly

disapproven to uhighly approven with a high score indicating disap-

proval should the respondent commit the deviant act.

Paternoster et al. (1983) measured the dependent variable by

five behaviors, including: (1) theft under $10, (2) theft under

$100, (3) property damage, (4) writing a check with insufficient

funds, and (5) marijuana use. They gave a score of 1 if partici-

pants reported committing the act in the past year and a score of 0

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 67

if they didn't.

Paternoster's et al. (1983) model did a fair job and provided

reasonable support for control theory. The full model with Time 2

criminal involvement as the dependent variable explained 34% of the

variance, a proportion consistent with other studies of social

control (Krohn & Massey, 1980; Wiatrowski et al., 1981). With the

exception of grades and attachments to parents, the other endogenous

variables were well explained within the model. Secondly, it should

be observed that the best predictors of time 2 criminal involvement

were, in order of importance: Time 1 criminal involvement (~ =

-.381), beliefs(~= -.111), informal sanctions(~= -.167), grades

(~ = -.140), and sex(~= .078).

They also found that informal sanctions and beliefs were good

predictors of criminal involvement which is consistent with Krohn and

Massey (1980); Wiatrowski et al. (1981); and Tittle and Villemez

(1977). In sum, Paternoster et al. found that prior delinquency had

a moderate effect on most social bonds. However, they did not con-

trol for prior levels of social control in their analy~is, unlike

Krohn and Massey's study.

Poole and Regoli (1979) utilized data collected from 72 respond-

ents ranging in age between 14-17 years of age in order to test the

effect of parental support and delinquent friends on delinquency.

They placed the primary emphasis of delinquency control theory on the

correlation between the adolescent's attachment to his/her parents

and subsequent deviant behavior. Control theory hypothesized that

delinquent behavior is the outcome of a weak or broken association of

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 68

the delinquent adolescent with society. Along with this notion, lack

of family support is viewed as a correlation factor to delinquency.

In addition, the study found that subjects having low family support

engaged in more frequent, serious and varied delinquent activities

than did subjects having a higher family support.

Cernkovich (1978) utilized data collected from anonymous self-

report questionnaires administered to a sample of 412 male students,

ranging in age from 14 to 18, in a predominantly white high school

located in a midwestern city. Cernkovich examined variables derived

from structural theory (socioeconomic status, and perception of

limited opportunities) as well as control theory (conventional value

orientation and subterranean value orientation) and their relation-

ship to reported delinquency involvement.

The findings indicated that of the two theories, control theory

was the most robust in terms of explaining the most variance in de-

linquency involvement (12.5%) while the structural model explained

only 8% of the variance. Furthermore, Cernkovich indicated that by

using both models, the amount of explained variance increased to

14.5%. In sum, the control theory was supported empirically over

structural theory in terms of explaining delinquency.

Linden and Currie (1977) applied social control theory to test

the relationship between religiosity and drug use. "Social control

theory maintains that the greater an individual's stake in conform-

ity, the stronger hisjher ties to conventional others and to conven-

tional institutions, the lower the likelihood will be of his/her

committing a delinquent act" (pp. 346-347). In other words, church

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 69

is one of the major social institutions and the theory would predict

that ties to the church would provide adolescents with a stake in

conformity which would reduce the likelihood of their engaging in

delinquent behavior.

Linden and Currie's (1977) data were gathered as part of a

larger study carried out by Currie (1973) and consisted of a city-

wide sample of 750 Calgary, Alberta, Canada youths between the ages

of 15-24. Seven hundred and eight individuals completed a useful

questionnaire. According to their reported findings, and unlike

the Hirschi and Stark study (1969), church attendance was not found

to be related to delinquency involvement. The Linden and Currie

(1977) study indicated that those who attended church most frequently

had the lowest degree of illicit drug use. Thus, the present study

(Linden & Currie) supported social control theory by showing that

ties to conventional institutions (church) are a major factor in

reducing the likelihood of involvement in illicit drug use.

Linden and Currie (1977) indicated the major difference between

their study and Hirschi and Stark's (1969) study concerning the fol-

lowing: (a) dependent variable, (b) dates on both studies, and (c)

changes of the meaning of church attendance which have occurred dur-

ing that period. With respect to the first factor, the dependent

variable in Hirschi and Stark's study was deviant behavior, while

in Linden and Currie's study it was illicit drug use. The second

factor is that during the 1960s the influence of religion in both

the U.S.A. and Canada had declined. In sum, the Canadian study

supported social control theory by concluding that church attendance

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 70

has a direct impact and acts as a constraint against drug use, and

that it provides an individual with a stake in conformity as the

theory predicted.

Eve (1978) utilized a questionnaire on 300 eleventh and twelfth-

graders in a county-operated public high school located on the edge

of a southeastern city of about 100,000 people. Males represented

34.7% of the sample and females constituted 55.2%. Twenty percent

of the respondents were black, and 79.2% were white. Eve aimed to

test the efficacy of strain theories, cultural theories, and control

theories to explain delinquent behavior (drug use and traditional

deviance).

While the three theories have the ability to explain variance

in the dependent variables, social control theory has substantially

greater explanatory power than either of the other two theories. In

both strain and cultural theories, equal amounts of variance were

explained. Eve (1978) indicated that "high levels of social control

were strongly related to lower levels of drug use, but less strongly

related to lower levels of traditional deviance" (p. 124). In sum,

Eve's findings suggested that while all three theories have some

significant explanatory power, social control manifested the great-

est explanatory power, followed by culture and strain theories.

Chuen (1988) replicated social control theory by using self-

reported data collected from 3717 Chinese junior and senior high

school students in northern Taiwan. Both schools are located in a

high delinquent area and Chuen's findings have a profound implication

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 71

for social control theory.

Chuen assessed the bond to the school with the question, "Do you

like to go to school (dislike/mixed/like)?" Fifty-one percent of

those who responded as disliking school reported high in self-

reported delinquency, and 22.5% of those who responded as liking

school scored low on self-reported delinquency. With respect to

educational aspiration, Chuen asked the question, "How much educa-

tion do you hope to receive?" Fifty percent of those \<7ho hoped to

receive only a junior high school education scored high on self-

reported delinquency, while 31.9% of those who aspired to finish

graduate school or over scored low in self-reported delinquency.

With respect to involvement in conventional activities, Chuen asked

the question, "How much time do you spend doing homework?" Forty-

three percent who reported one hour or less and 25.5% of those who

reported three hours or more scored high on self-reported delin-

quency. Finally, with respect to the belief variable, Chuen asked

the respondents to respond to the statement, "It is all right to

take advantage of the law, if you can be exempt from punishment."

Forty-four percent who agreed and 23.7% who very strongly disagreed

scored high in self-reported delinquency.

Chuen did not report on all of the items he used in his study,

but it is very obvious that his findings are consistent within the

proportions of control theory.

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 72

Research Hypothesis

Hirschi (1969) did not develop a hypotheses to test his theory.

However, the four components of the social bond (attachment to signi-

ficant others, commitment to conventional activities, involvement in

conventional activities, and belief in the conventional order) have

been explicitly tested by Hirschi and other criminologists, as we

have seen in this chapter.

The following four hypotheses will be tested in this disser-

tation to determine the relevance of Hirschi's ~ontrol theory on

Jordanian juvenile respondents. These are:

1. There are no significant differences between delinquents

and nondelinquents with respect to attachment to significant others.

2. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to commitment to the conventional acti-

vities.

3. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to involvement in the conventional acti-

vities.

4. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to belief in the conventional order.

These hypotheses are simply the components of social bond form-

ulated in a test of significance format. Although Hirschi did not

test hypotheses as mentioned above, his study certainly implies an

examination of this nature.

This is an exploratory study which takes place in another cul-

tural setting, and the essential purpose is to find out if the

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 73

original theoretical model is applicable or not in Jordanian socie-

ty. Thus, the reconceptualization of the theory is irrelevant to

the present study. However, the theory's shortcomings will be ad-

dressed and the results of the present study will be compared to

those of Hirschi's work.

Summary

Chapter II presented a brief statement about control theories in

general and an extensive review of the literature, specifically re-

plicated studies of Hirschi's (1969) theory. Finally, the hypothe-

ses of this study were presented.

Control theories were classified into four groups: (1) social

structural disorganization, (2) cultural disorganization, (3) learn-

ing theories, and (4) exchange theories. According to this set of

theories people deviate either to enhance their economic position

(Merton, 1937), social status (Cohen, 1955), or conform to a differ-

ent subculture. Finally, people deviate with expectations of distri-

butive justice (Homans, 1961) or fair exchange (Blau, 1964). The

suggestion was made to place these theories under the rationality

model. In this sense people deviate or conform after rationally

calculating what they stand to lose or gain by their behavior.

The second set of theories are: (1) the containment theory, (2) the

bonding theory, and (3) the role relationship theory. According to

this group of theories, people don't need motivation to deviate, as

deviance is part of the natural order. Our task is to explain why

they don't deviate instead of asking why they do it.

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 74

As mentioned earlier, the bonding theory is the purest type in

this cluster of theories. No other theory has received attention

like Hirschi's (1969) theory. The general theoretical framework of

this theory is to answer the question "why don't they do it"

(deviate)? Thus, Hirschi explains lack of deviance by social inte-

gration, or the social solidarity in the society. Whenever the ties

of the individual to his/her society become weak, the chances of de-

viance increase. Moreover, as we have mentioned earlier, Hirschi

(1969) and others thoroughly investigated this relationship by exam-

ining the four major premises of the theory. Thus, this cluster of

theories was placed under the solidarity model in the sense that

solidarity or social integration is a key concept to link all these

theories together.

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 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODS

The purpose of this chapter is to present the methodological

aspects of this research in four sections. The first section pro-

vides a description of the setting and the sample. The second sec-

tion explains the methodology involved in the data collection. The

third section offers a description and measurement of variables in

the study. The fourth section focuses on the statistical techniques

utilized in analyzing the collected data.

The Setting: The City of Tafielah

Tafielah is an ancient city located in the southern part of Jor-

dan, inhabited by 16,120 people, according to the 1985 Jordanian Census

Bureau report (Public Census Bureau, 1985). Tafielah's governate has

six major localities (districts), administered by the city, but each

locality has its own municipality or center. The total population of

the governate is 42,820 inhabitants according to the 1987 Census Bureau

report; 16,700 are urban (as defined by the Census Bureau as a

population of 5,000 in 1979), and 26,120 are rural (Public Census

Bureau, 1987).

The six major districts of Tafielah's governate are the follow-

ing: "(1) Bsaira is the largest, and it is inhabited by 10,070

people; (2) El-Hesa ranks second in terms of population and is inha-

bited by 5,540 persons. Most of its population work in the phosphate

75

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 76

fields; (3) Qadisiyyeh is inhabited by 4,700 people; (4) Ain El-

Baidha has a population of 3,085; (5) Emah is inhabited by 1,250

people; (6) Gharandel is inhabited by 1,555 people" (Public Census

Bureau, 1987, p. 50).

During the last two decades, the kingdom has witnessed a rapid

increase of services in terms of social organizations, social cen-

ters, cooperative societies, etc. Tafielah's governate has 295

agricultural cooperative societies (it is mainly a rural city); 72

saving and lending societies; and 383 multiple purpose societies

(such as eight charitable organizations; four motherhood centers,

etc.). Along with these organizations, the Jordanian government has

paid increased attention to the health services as evidenced by the

establishment of nine public health centers, two dental clinics, two

pharmacies, nine post-offices and the government hospital. In sum,

23 governmental services have been established in the city employing

1,156 persons.

From an administrative point of view, six municipalities were

founded to serve the needs of the people residing in villages of less

than 5,000 people. Also one public library in the city was establish-

ed in addition to a library in every school. To summarize, the Taf-

ielains in terms of occupation and profession, are mostly farmers,

governmental employees, and construction workers. Thousands of them

migrated to the capital in the fifties and early sixties and estab-

lished their own section (community) in an attempt to find better

conditions in the city. The above information suggests that the

majority of Tafielains have similar incomes, occupations, and

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 77

government services as compared with any city in the country, with

the exception of the more abundant opportunities available in the

capital. Therefore, it can be inferred that the population of

Tafielah have similar levels of education, and share equal rungs on

the socio-economic ladder.

The Sample

As with most public schools serving specific geographic areas in

the country, the student body of Tafielah Governate is a microcosm of

the city and its environs. In the academic year beginning in Septem-

ber, 1989, 13,303 students enrolled in Tafielah's Governate School

and its localities. These students were distributed into 29 male

schools (7,231), 23 female schools (6,072), and 36 mixed schools, but

the student body registered in the Ministry of Education is 13,303

students only (private schools are excluded). These students are

enrolled in elementary schools, preparatory schools, and secondary

schools (Ministry of Planning--Jordan, 1989).

Because Tafielah's Governate is divided into six localities,

each locality or district has a secondary school which serves that

specific locality (except Gharandel's locality which does not have a

secondary school). Tafielah's city has two secondary schools (male

schools). The sample consisted of what are known in Jordan as the

second secondary classes (males, comparable to eleventh grade in the

U.S.A.) of Tafielah's secondary schools, Ain El-Baidha, Aimeh, Bsaria,

Prince Hasan, Qadisiyyeh, and Hesa schools. These seven schools re-

present the city and its localities. It should be mentioned here

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 78

that the classes varied in size from one locality to another. The

sample included 147 pupils in the eleventh grade in the seven

schools (The Annual Book, 1989).

Methodology

Questionnaire

As mentioned earlier, the research instrument was derived from

Hirschi's (1969) study. However, Hirschi's original instrument

was determined to be too long, and therefore, too time consuming for

the purposes of the investigation. All 107 items included in this

instrument came directly or indirectly from Hirschi's instrument,

with the exception of the graffiti item, which was borrowed from El-

liott and Ageton (1980).

The criteria of selecting the items were based on how well these

items fit the Jordanian society. Thus, items related to race, sex,

and school activities such as human relations clubs, art and dance

clubs, etc., were excluded. Moreover, items related to leisure

activities such as drive-in restaurants, and riding around in a car

were also excluded.

Only items related to family, peers, values, and academic work

were included in this study. Some alterations were needed to use

this instrument, such as the different grading system used in Jordan.

The grades of A, B, and C were exchanged for 90s, 80s and 70s,

respectively, to fit the Jordanian society.

The 107 items used in this research were screened very care-

fully, and each element of the social bond was measured by several

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 79

items.

The researcher, fluent in Arabic, translated the instrument into

very simple and understandable Arabic. Then the English copy was

given to two Jordanian doc.torate students in order to translate it to

Arabic. Having three copies of the questionnaire in Arabic provided

the researcher with an indication if there was any genuine inconsist-

ency. The subjects responded to a questionnaire in very simple and

understandable Arabic, and the students answered individually and

anonymously by marking (X) or by writing the answer. The researcher

and the other two students reviewed the questionnaire item by item.

Moreover, a pretest of the instrument was conducted on a small sample

which matched the characteristics of the targeted population.

Pretest

The research design of this study called for the use of a pre-

test for the purposes of time estimation and difficulties in under-

standing the questionnaire and to ascertain what, if any, refinements

should be made with respect to the research instrument. Thus, the

pretest was viewed as a means of testing materials, methods, and

instruments before embarking on the data collection phase of this

study.

The population for the pretest consisted of 10 eleventh graders

in a nearby city, matching the characteristics of the original sample.

Information was gathered by self-administered questionnaire (107

questions). With respect to the time factor, 45 minutes were needed

to finish the questionnaire. The pretest sample didn't experience any

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 80

problem in answering the questions. The pretest was encouraging and

viewed as a reliable criteria reference.

The Questionnaire Administration

The director of the educational department in the Tafielah

Governate was contacted by telephone, requesting his permission and

assistance. A copy of the questionnaire was sent to his office, with

a letter apprising him that he would be contacted by telephone again.

The director contacted each principal in the seven schools, and no

objection was raised by them. However, each principal was contacted

individually in order to set a time table to conduct the survey.

On January 15, 1990, the data collection process began with the

assistance of three trained individuals while in the presence of some

of the school personnel. Each person involved in data collection read

a letter to the students which included instructions as well as re-

minding them that their information and cooperation in the study was

very important for their community's future and also for the success

of the research. Moreover, it was made clear that their information

was confidential and nobody would know who participated in the sur-

vey.

A self-reported questionnaire was given utilizing items selected

from a test instrument previously used in Hirschi's (1969) study.

Each student in the eleventh grade in each school in the Governate

was asked to voluntarily respond to the questionnaire (containing 107

questions, see Appendix A). Respondents were asked to answer the

items on the questionnaire in an honest way in order to measure their

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 81

attitudes, values, and beliefs. There were no right or wrong answers.

The questionnaire which contained 107 questions included items

about values, attitudes, beliefs, or examined the pupil's ties to his

community, parents, schools, and peers.

Given the time constraints and financial burden placed on the

investigators, females were excluded from this study. Based on the

outcome of this study, however, the investigator will include them in

future works. Moreover, females were excluded from this study for

the following three reasons:

1. Official data have shown that young Jordanian males are more

likely to commit criminal acts than young Jordanian.females, 95% and

5% respectively.

2. Males and females have different socialization growth rates.

He expect stronger parental attachment for females because research

has shown that parents are more responsive to female children which

is consistent with the control theory premises (Lewis, 1972), and

parents are less likely to use physical punishment techniques un fe-

male children (Duncan & Duncan, 1978).

3. It has been mentioned earlier that in Jordan only two female

institutions were found to serve the needs of nonconforming females,

which gives us an idea that female delinquency is not as serious a

problem.

To assure anonymity and confidentiality, the subjects were asked

to deposit their completed surveys in a box placed in the same room.

Then, the researcher screened them (not in the research place) to see

if there was any problem or an incomplete questionnaire. However,

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 82

none of these difficulties or problems was found.

Measurement Problems and Description of Variables

Caplovitz (1983) asserts that when deciding which indicators to

select to measure a concept, the researcher is confronted with the

problem of assessing the adequacy of the indicator. How good a job

does it do in measuring the concept?

Elaborate statistical procedures have evolved for deciding

which cluster of indicators hang together to measure a con-
cept, but the amateur and even the more advanced researcher
are well advised to avoid factor analysis and rely instead on
simple procedures for constructing indices. However, we
expect the items to be related but we do not want to find too
strong a correlation between the indicators. (p. 223).

One dependent variable was used to test the hypothesis with four

major independent variables. However, many variables were measured

by a single item such as father's occupation, family status, father's

education, age, mother's education, occupation, number of sisters,

brothers, etc.

Of initial concern was the measurement of delinquent behavior,

as was the case in Hirschi's (1969) original work. Hirschi did not

develop a scale to measure delinquent behavior, but rather borrowed

from two different scales: Nye and Short's (1957) seven item de1in-

quency scale, and Dentler and Monroe's (1961) five item theft scale.

The Jordanian study borrowed five items from Hirschi's scale. Those

items were: theft of 3 JD, theft of 3-30 JD, theft of over 30 JD,

battery, and vandalism. One item (graffiti) was borrowed from Elliott

and Ageton (1980). Thus, the Jordanian study demanded a more thor-

ough analysis of an individual's criminal activities.

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 83

Some consideration was given to applying the Sellin and Wolfgang

(1964) seriousness weighing schema to the reported deviant activities.

This idea was rejected because the current literature had questioned

the validity of applying a weighing scale to self-reported delinquency.

Of major concern here is the fallacy of a universal consensus with re-

gard to how serious or not serious any offense actually is (Bennett

& Lynch, 1990; Okada, 1987).

The Sellin and Wolfgang (1964) scale requires knowledge of degree

of danger, either actual or perceived, specific dollar amount of dam-

age, and degree of severity of offense that simply are not available

in this study. However, the lack of this information need not be

viewed as a shortcoming of the current research.

Miethe (1982) argues that perceptions of crime seriousness are

simply not universally recognized. "In reality, research that addres-

ses perceptions of crime seriousness, generally derive their findings

by some methodological artifact or by some underlying investigator-

generated normative structure, and therefore are not the product of

empirical evidence" (quoted in Okada, 1987, p. 66).

One of the major criticisms of Hirschi's (1969) scale is the is-

sue of trivial offenses which is also of major concern in this study.

Generally, most research in the area of criminology relies either on

criminal justice statistics or information collected from school boys.

In both cases, the researcher will confront a problem: in the former

instance, the issue of random sampling will be of concern, and for

the latter, the issue of trivial offenses will emerge. Okada (1987)

reported that middle-class boys consistently reported offenses that

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 84

were either status offenses or minor offenses. These included:

"lied about age, cheating on tests, skipping classes, drunkenness,

consuming alcohol, evading payments, and stole from family" (p. 66).

The issue of trivial offenses, however, is not a problem in the

present research. After consulting the frequencies of 13 items in

this study, serious offenses were reported more than trivial offenses:

battery (67.4%) was first, vandalism was second (14.1%), theft up to

three JD was third (13.5%), theft of 3-30 JD was fourth (9.9%), graf-

fiti was fifth (6.8%), and theft of over 30 JD was sixth (6.2%).

Surprisingly, when asked if they ever thought of themselves as

being a delinquent, 52.4% of the respondents responded no, 24.1% did

not know what the word "delinquent" meant, and only 23.5% thought of

themselves as delinquent. This difference suggests that even though

these boys actively participated in delinquent behavior, the majority

(76.5%) did not consider themselves delinquent.

Measurement of Delinquent Behavior

Actual delinquent behavior was measured by responses to the

abbreviated version of Hirschi's (1969) scale adapted for this dis-

sertation. The 13 offenses were screened and six items were adapted

as mentioned earlier. The selection of the items was based on empir-

ical tests (reliability). Responses were as follows: (a) never,

(b) one to three times, (c) four to six times, and (d) seven times or

more.

A dichotomous dependent variable of not delinquent or delinquent

was created for analytic purposes. The six items (battery, vandalism,

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 85

graffiti, and three types of theft) included were recognized as being

punishable by the law. Therefore, in constructing specific delin-

quent categories a somewhat arbitrary, but methodologically adequate

method was utilized. The six items were empirically tested before

the final decision was made. ALPHA is .6870 and standardized ALPHA

item is .7254, (see Appendix B), and none of the items was found to

be very highly or weakly correlated. Therefore, the researcher con-

cluded that a valid index was used to measure delinquent behavior

in Jordanian society.

The four independent variables which are described in this

section are: (1) attachment to significant others (parents, schools,

and peers); (2) commitment to the conventional order {education and

occupation); (3) involvement in conventional activities (education);

and (4) belief in the conventional order. These variables are the

major independent variables explored for the purpose of this re-

search.

Attachment to.significant others. This variable was subcategor-

ized into three parts: {1) attachment to parents, (2) attachment to

school, and (3) attachment to peers. Attachment to parents was di-

vided into two parts: (1) attachment to mother, and (2) attachment

to father. Attachment to mother is operationally measured by the

follow-ing items: {a) Does your mother know where you are when you

are away from home? (b) Does your mother know who you are with when

you are away from home? These two items were correlated (.3982).

The responses for these two questions were: Usually, sometimes,

never and these responses were coded 3, 2, 1 and zero for nonresponse

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 86

respectively. This index was called Mother's Index I.

Several items on the questionnaire were chosen to measure the

intimacy of communication between mother and child. The items were:

(a) Does your mother ever ask about what you are doing in school?

(b) Do you share your thoughts and feelings with your mother? Again

the responses were: Usually, sometimes, never and were coded high,

medium, and low respectively. This index was called Mother's Index

II. These two items were correlated .1504.

Another index to measure intimacy of communication between

mother and child was constructed, distinguished from Index II by

the fact that the flow of communication was from the mother to the

child. The items were: (a) When you don't know why your mother

makes a rule, will she explain the reason? (b) Does your mother make

rules that seem unfair to you? The same responses were used for this

index which was called Mother's Index III. The correlation for these

two items is .3279.

Identification with mother was measured by the following ques-

tion: "Would you like to be the kind of person your mother is?"

Responses were in every way, in most ways, in some ways, in just a

few ways, not at all. These responses were recorded as follows:

high = in every way and in most ways; medium = in just a few ways,

and low= not at all (3-1). ALPHA for mother's attachment index

is .5029 and standardized item ALPHA is .4535.

All these previous items were tested for reliability and corre-

lation in order to justify combining them together (see Appendix B).

Particularily when a high correlation was found, items were deleted

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 87

from the analysis.

Attachment to father was measured by the following items:

(a) Does your father know where you are when you are away from home?

(b) Does your father know who you are with when you are away from

home? The responses for these two questions were: usually, some-

times, never and coded 3, 2, 1 and zero for nonresponse, respective-

ly. This index was called Father's Index I. These two items were

correlated .243.

In order to measure the intimacy of communication between the

father and the child, the following items were used: (a) Does your

father ever ask about what you are doing in school? (b) Do you share

your thoughts and feelings with your father? The responses were

treated the same as in the mother's case. This index was called

Father's Index II and the items were correlated (.2792).

In order to measure intimacy of communication between the child

and the father (father to child) the items were: (a) When you don't

know why your father makes a rule, will he explain the reason?

(b) Does your father make rules that seem unfair to you? The same

responses were used for this index which was called Father's Index

III. Correlation of these two items is .4832.

Finally, identification with father was measured by the follow-

ing item "would you like to be the kind of person your father is?"

The responses were: in every way, in most ways, in some ways, in

just a few ways, not at all. These reposes were recorded as follows:

high in every way and in most ways; medium= in just a few ways,

and low= not at all (3, 2, 1).

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 88

Thus, attachment to parents was measured by 14 items. All these

items were coded the same for statistical reasons. Again, all these

were empirically tested before using them. For father's index, ALPHA

is .47 and standardized item ALPHA is .43.

Attachment to peers was measured by the following five items:

1. "How much do you think most teachers like the group of friends

you are with?" The responses ranged from "very much" to "I don't know."

The seven responses were recoded as follows: High (3) = "very much,"

medium (2) = "fairly well," and low (1) = "not much, not at all, I

have no friends and I don't know."

2. "Would you like to be the kind of person your best friends

are?" Again responses were recoded as follows: High (3) = "in most

ways," medium (2) = "in a few ways," and low (1) = "not at all and I

have no best friends."

3. "How much do you think most students like the group of friends

you go with?" The responses were treated as in item number 1.

4. "Do you respect your best friends' opinions about the impor-

tant things in life?" The five responses were recoded from high

(3) ="completely," medium (2) =''pretty much," and low (1) ="a lit-

tle, not at all," and "I have no best friends."

5. "Have any of your close friends ever been picked up by the

police?" Responses ranged from high (3) ="four or. more," medium=

(2) "1-3" and low (1) = "nobody."

These five items were combined to form an index of attachment to

peers, after being empirically tested (ALPHA= .4580, standardized item

ALPHA= .4191).

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 89

Attachment to school. The following seven items were used to

measure this variable:

1. "What kind of grades do you think you are capable of get-

ting?" The possible responses to this question were seven ranked from

high to low. These responses were recoded as follows: high (3)

"80-100," medium (2) = "69-79," and low (1) = "49 and below."

2. "In general, do you like or dislike school?" The responses

to this question were "I like it," "like/dislike it about equally,"

and "dislike it." These responses were recoded 3, 2, 1 respectively.

3. "Do you care what teachers think of you?" The responses were:

"I care a lot," "I care some," "I don't care much." Again, these

responses were recoded 3, 2, 1 respectively.

4. "Teachers pick on me."

5. "I feel nervous and tense in school."

6. "It is none of the school's business if a student wants to

smoke outside of the classroom."

The responses to items 4, 5, and 6 ranged from "strongly agree"

to "strongly disagree." If a student strongly agreed, one point

was given. On the other hand, if he strongly disagreed, three points

were given.

7. "How do you rate yourself in school ability compared with

other students?" Six responses were used to answer this question.

These responses were recoded as follows: High = "among the best" and

"above the average," medium= "about average," and low= "below aver-

age," "among the worst" and "I don't know" (3, 2, 1 respectively). From

highest to lowest (ALPHA= .51 and standardized ALPHA item= .53).

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 90

Commitment to conventional activities was measured by the fol-

lowing items:

1. "How much schooling would you like to get?"

2. "How much schooling do you actually expect to get?"

Three responses were used to answer these two questions. These

responses were coded as follows: High school or less = 1, Junior

College 2, and College graduation= 3.

3. "What kind of grades to you think you are capable of get-

ting?" This question was coded as mentioned earlier.

4. "How important is getting good grades to you personally?"

Four responses were used from high to low as mentioned earlier.

5. "How important do you think grades are for getting the kind

of job you want when you finish high school?" Five responses were

used and they were recoded as follows: High= "very important,"

medium= "somewhat important," and low= "unimportant," "! have no

idea," and "1 don't plan to work when I finish high school."

6. "As you see it now, do you plan to graduate from high

school?" Three responses were used to answer this question. These

responses were recoded as follows: high (3) ="yes," medium (2)

"yes, but leave for a while and come back," and low ( 1) = "no."

7. "The only reason to have a job is money?" Five responses

were used to answer this question. These responses were recoded as

follows: high (3) = "disagree" and "strongly disagree," medium

(2) ="undecided," and low (l) "agree" and "strongly agree" (3,

2, 1, respectively). (ALPHA= .3820, standardized ALPHA item=

.3647).

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 91

Involvement in conventional activities was measured by the

subjects' responses to eight questions:

1. "How much time do you spend doing homework?" Values range

from 3 to 1, highest to lowest. The responses were: 3 indicates

1-1/2 hours or more, 2 indicates 1 hour, and 1 indicates a half hour

or less.

2. "How often do you work in the garden with your mother?"

3. "How often do you work in the garden with your father?"

Three responses were used to answer these two questions. These

responses were coded as follows: high (3) = "usually," medium (2) =

"sometimes," and low (1) ="never" (3, 2, 1, respectively).

4. "Kinds of grades you are capable of getting." Values range

from 3 to 1, highest to lowest. The response of 3 indicates 80-100,

2 indicates 60-79, and 1 indicates 59 and below.

5. "Do you finish your homework?"

6. "Do your teachers check your homework?" Values range from

3 to 1 (highest to lowest). The response of 3 indicates "always," 2

indicates "seldom," and 1 indicates "never" and "we are not given any

homework."

7. "Have you ever been suspended from school?" Values range

from 3 to 1, with 1 indicating "often," 2 indicating "a few times,"

and 3 indicating "once or twice," and "never."

8. "On the average, how many times do you go to the Mosque?"

Responses were: (a) "daily," (b) "every Friday," (c) "once a month,"

(d) "only on occasions," (e) "I don't go at all." Possible values

range from 3 to 1. A value of 3 was assigned to responses (a), (b)

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 92

and (c). Response d was given a value of 2, and the last response

(e) was given a 1 (highest to lowest). ALPHA= .3820, and stand-

ardized ALPHA item= .3696.

Belief in the conventional order was measured by subject re-

sponse to the questions:

1. "I have a lot of respect for the Tafielah police."

2. "It is alright to get around the law if you can get away

with it."

3. "Most criminals really should not be blamed for the things

they have done."

4. "Most people in government are not really interested in the

problems of families like mine."

5. "Suckers deserve to be taken advantage of."

6. "I can't seem to stay out of trouble no matter how hard I

try."

7. "The man who leaves the keys in his car is as much to blame

for its theft as the man who steals it."

8. "Policemen try to give all kids an even break."

Items 1 and 8 were recoded as follows: "strongly agree" and

"agree" = 3 points; undecided 2 points, and "disagree" and "strong-

ly disagree" = 1 point; items 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were recoded as

follows: "Strongly agree" and "agree" = 1 point, "undecided" = 2

points, and "disagree" and "strongly disagree" = 3 points. Reli-

ability for these items was .26 and (standardized ALPHA item= .21).

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 93

Data Analysis Procedures

In order to test the research hypothesis and answer other relat-

ed questions, a variety of summary statistics were computed for des-

criptive purposes. Analysis of ordinal data was made with the assis-

tance of appropriate statistics for each level. Cross-tabulation was

computed and all analysis was done at the .05 critical value. T-test

was calculated for test of differences for ordinal data, and the dif-

ference between means of the two groups was used to test the null

hypothesis. Correlation also was used to find out about the direction

and strength of the relationship between the dependent and the inde-

pendent variables.

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 CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS

The purpose of the present chapter is threefold: First, to pre-

sent a descriptive profile of the 147 boys that comprise the sample

for this investigation, how they are distributed in terms of schools,

age, parent's occupation and education, delinquent activities, broken

homes, family status, religiosity, etc.; second, to compare the pre-

sent study's results with Hirschi's (1969) study, and third, to test

the four hypotheses formulated to ascertain the degree to which they

are supportive of Hirschi's four bonding factors: attachment to

significant others, commitment to the conventional activities,

involvement in the conventional activities, and, finally, belief in

the conventional order.

Profile of the Sample

Examination of the descriptive data revealed that the subjects

were unevenly divided among the seven schools. The distribution of

the subjects was as follows:

Table 1

The Sample Distribution According to School's Name

School Name Frequency %

'
Tafielah Secondary School 35 23.8

Emah Secondary School 12 8.2

94

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 95

Table 1--Continued

School Name Frequency %

Besara Secondary School 29 19.7

Al-Gaddesyah Secondary School 13 8.8

Ein-Elbedeh Secondary School 7 4.8

El-Hesa Secondary School 31 21.1

Prince Hasan Secondary School 18 12.2

Total 147 100.0

Respondents ranged in age from 15 to 18 with a mean age of

16.9.

Table 2 shows the age distribution of the population of the study.

Table 2

The Respondents' Distribution According to Their Age

Age Frequency %

15 2 1.4

16 33 22.4

17 83 56.5

18 29 19.7

Total 147 100.0

--------------------------------------------------------
According to this table, 78.9% of the subjects were 16 and 17 years

of age at the time of the study, 19.7% of the students were 18 and

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 96

only 1.4% (2 students) were 15 years old at that time.

The parents of this population were reported to be in the fol-

lowing occupations: 78.9% of their fathers were unskilled and semi-

skilled laborers (peasants, construction workers), 16.3% were skilled

laborers (machine operators, merchants, governmental employees), 2.7%

were professionals (physicians, lawyers). With respect to their

mothers' occupations, 94.6% were unskilled laborers (housewives) and

only 4.1% were professional (physicians, school teachers).

The parents of this population were generally uneducated,

especially the mothers, of whom 91.2% had no formal education. Only

3.4% finished four year colleges and 5.4% had some high school.

In looking at the fathers' educational level, 37.4% had no formal

education, 46.3% had some high school education, 8.8% finished high

school, 6.1% had four years of college, and 1.4% had two years (i.e.,

graduated from junior colleges). According to the traditional belief

in Jordanian society, the men have the responsibility of supporting

their families, and thus it is no surprise that fathers had a better

education, especially in a small conservative town.

In describing the delinquent activities of the subjects, 23.8%

never committed any delinquent act, while 76.2% had committed one or

more delinquent acts. The dependent variable was dichotomized into

delinquent or nondelinquent for statistical analysis. When subjects

asked if they ever thought of themselves as delinquents, 52.4% report-

ed they did not, 24.5% didn't know what the word meant, and only 22.1%

thought of themselves as delinquents (mentioned earlier). Regarding

contact with police, 91.2% had never been picked up by the police and

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 97

only 8.8% had had contact with police.

That crime is a group phenomenon is a common observation in the

literature. When subjects were asked about their friends' behavior

with respect to police contact, 63.2% reported that they never had

any friends picked up by the police, 34.0% reported having 1-3

friends who had contact with the police, and only 2.8% had four or

more friends picked up by the police.

With regard to their natural parents, 98% of the sample reported

living with their natural fathers, only 2.0% reported living with

their stepfathers, 91.8% reported living with their natural mothers,

4.8% reported living with their stepmothers. Only 3.4% reported

their natural mothers were not living with them. Therefore, it can

be assumed that a stable traditional nuclear family exists for this

population.

With respect to siblings, 95.9% reported having more than one

brother, 96.0% reported having more than one sister, 39.5% reported

having no older brothers and sisters, while 60.5% reported having

more than one brother and sister.

One of the early assumptions of this research was that the re-

sidents of Tafielah Governate and its localities, by and large,

shared an equivalent economic status. When asked the question,

"comparing your family with other families in your neighborhood, how

would you relate yours in terms of living style?" It was a real sur-

prise that the data did not support this assumption, in that 59.2%

of the respondents answered that their families were "better off" and

only 20.4% of the respondents indicated that they were the same,

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 98

15.0% of the respondents answered "less well off," "worse than

others," and "I don't know." However, 8 subjects (5.4%) did not

answer this question.

In examining religiosity in the population, when asked the ques-

tion "on an average, how many times do you go to the Mosque?",

32.7% reported going daily, 59.2% every Friday, 7.5% once a month,

and less than 1% (.6%) reported not going at all. Therefore, it

could be assumed that the subjects are regular Mosque goers.

In describing their interest in school, well over half (57.8%

of the sample) said they liked school, an additional (36.1%) answered

that they like it and dislike it equally, and only 6.1% disliked

school. In further addressing this group's interest in academia,

72.1% were planning to attend a four year college, while 2.0% wanted

to finish high school only.

Comparison to Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency

In this section the writer will compare the responses of the

Jordanian subjects with Hirschi's respondents in the United States.

Analyses were conducted to see whether or not Hirschi's theory pro-

vided a reasonable explanation of juvenile delinquency in Jordan.

Some variables were selected from Hirschi's work that represent the

elements of the social bond and they were compared to the dependant

variable (nondelinquent/delinquent) that was constructed for this

dissertation.

Hirschi (1969) suggested that attachment to parents is very

important in deterring delinquency. He argues that "when parental

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 99

attachment is strong, parental values are more readily accepted"

(p. 83). To assess the bond of parental attachment, the subjects

were asked: "Would you like to be the kind of person your father

is?" The possible responses to this question were: "In every way,"

"in most ways," "in some ways," "in just a few ways," and "not at

all."

For purposes of comparison, the five responses above were col-

lapsed into the following categories: High= "in every way" and "in

most ways"; Medium= "in some ways"; Low= "in just a few ways" and "not

at all." The reader should note that the data in the following table

represent the percent of the comparison that involves the number of

subjects in each study whose responses place them in the high cate-

gory and who reported no delinquency or some delinquency involvement,

followed by the number (again shown in percentages) of subjects whose

responses place them in the medium category and who reported no

delinquency or some delinquency involvement. A similar comparison

will be made for those who fall in the low category.

Table 3

Self-Reported Delinquency by Identification With Father:

"Would you Like to be the Kind of Person Your Father is?"

Reported Acts High Medium Low

Nondelinquents HM 65%'l\" HM 55%* HM 41%*

IM 31% IM 25% IM 21%

Delinquents HM 35%* HM 45%* HM 59%*

IM 69% IM 75% IM 79%

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Table 3--Continued

Reported Acts High Medium Low

Total HM* (525) (387) (311) 1223

IM ( 26) ( 44) ( 77) 147

HM ~Hirschi's male subjects

IM = Irfaifeh's male subjects

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 20
(1969, p. 92).

According to Table 3, of Hirschi's 1223 subjects, 525 were in the

high category. Of the 525, 340 (65%) respondents were placed in the

high category and reported no delinquency involvement. However, 184

(35%) were also found in the high category and they did report one or

more delinquency involvements.

In the present study, of the 147 subjects, 26 were in the high

category. Of the 26, 8 (31%) of the respondents were placed in the high

category but with no delinquency involvement, while 18 (69%) were in

the high category and each reported one or more delinquent acts. This

comparison shows that of the subjects with a high attachment to their

fathers, a much higher percentage of those in this (Irfaifeh's) study

reported being involved in delinquency (69% vs. 35%).

Further comparison was made in the medium and low categories in

much the same fashion as noted in the above example. For example, of

Hirschi's 1223 subjects, 387 were in the medium category. Of the 387,

213 (55%) respondents were placed in the medium category and reported

no delinquency involvement. However, 174 (45%) were also found in the

medium category and they did report one or more delinquent acts. Of

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 101

Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 44 were in the medium category. Of the 44,

11 (25%) respondents were in the medium category but reported no delin-

quency involvement, while 33 (75%) in the medium category and each

reported one or more delinquent acts. This comparison shows that of

the subjects with a medium attachment to their fathers, a much higher

percentage of those in Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in

delinquency (75% vs. 45%).

For the low category, of Hirschi's 1223 subjects, 311 were in

the low category. Of the 311, 139 (41%) respondents were in the low

category and they reported no delinquency involvement. However, 172

(59%) were also found in the low category and they did report one or

more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147, 16 (21%) respondents were in

the low category and reported no delinquency involvement. However,

61 (79%) were also found in the low category and they did report one

or more delinquent acts. This comparison shows that of the subjects

with a low attachment to their fathers, a much higher percentage of

those in Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in delinquency (79%

vs. 59%).

In summary, with respect to Irfaifeh's subjects, 18 (69%) of the

respondents who identified themselves as being highly attached to

their fathers reported one or more delinquent acts and 77 (79%) of

the respondents who did identify themselves wanting to be like their

father in a few ways or not at all in the low category did report

delinquent acts. Hirschi's percentages were 184 (35%) and 173 (59%)

respectively. Therefore, the Jordanian data were consistent theo-

retically with Hirschi's theory.

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 102

Identification with mother was measured by the same question

and the same response was used. Interestingly enough, none of the

Jordanian subjects identified himself in every way or in most ways

with his mother. The whole sample was placed either in the medium

or the low category. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 65 were in the

medium category. Of the 65, 18 (28%) respondents in the medium cate-

gory did not report any delinquency involvement. However, 47 (72%)

respondents in the medium category did report one or more delinquent

acts.

With respect to the low category, of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 17

(20%) respondents did not report any delinquency involvement, while

65 (80%) did report one or more delinquent acts. Comparing father's

to mother's percentages, it was noticed that identification with

father and self-reported delinquency is slightly stronger in deterr-

ing delinquency than identification with mother, contrary to Hinde-

lang's (1973) findings "that affection for mother and self-reported

delinquency is stronger than the relation between affection for

father and self-reported delinquency" (p. 476). Hirschi (1969) did

discuss this matter by stating that "the relation between identifi-

cation with the mother and delinquency is somewhat stronger than

the relation between identification with the father and delinquency"

(p. 92). However, Hirschi did not provide any data to sustain his

statements. In sum, the Jordanian data with respect to identifica-

tion with mother and delinquency did not support Hirschi's theory.

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Attachment to School

Hirschi (1969) stated that attachment to school is related to

delinquency, i.e., "those who do poorly in school reduce their in-

terests in school and hence, are free to the extent of their reduced

attachment to, commitment to, and involvement in school-related

activities, to commit delinquent acts" (pp. 122-124). A comparison

between Hirschi's subjects and this dissertation's subjects was made

to assess the bond to the school (see Table 4).

Table 4

Self Reported Delinquency by Perceived Academic Ability:

"How Do You Rate Yourself in School Ability Compared With
Other Students in Your School?"

Self-Reported Acts High Medium Low

Nondelinquents HM 59%* HM 57%* HM 36%*

IM 51% IM 33% IM 6%

Delinquents HM 41%* HM 43%* HM 64%*

IM 49% IM 67% IM 94%

Total HM* (514) (619) (94) 1227

Total IM (103) ( 27) (17) 147

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 31,
(1969, p. 118).

For purposes of comparison, the four possible responses to the

above question were collapsed into three categories: High "among

the best" and "above the average"; Medium= "average"; and Low= "below

average." Of Hirschi's 1227 subjects, 514 were in the high category.

Of the 514, 303 (59%) respondents in the high category did not report

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 104

any delinquency involvement, while 211 (41%) respondents in the

same category did report one or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's

147 subjects, 103 were in the high category. Of the 103, 53 (51%)

respondents in the high category did not report any delinquency

involvement. However, 50 (49%) respondents in the same category

did report delinquency involvement. This comparison means that of

the subjects with a high attachment to their schools, a much higher

percentage of those in Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in

delinquency (49% vs. 41%).

For the medium category, of Hirschi's 1223 subjects, 619 were in

the medium category. Of the 619, 353 (57%) respondents were placed

in the medium category and they did not report any delinquency acts.

However, 266 (43%) respondents in the same category did report one or

more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 27 were in the

medium category. Of the 27, 9 (33%) in the medium category did not

report any delinquency involvement, while 18 (67%) did report one or

more delinquent acts. As with the high category, Table 4 shows that

of the subjects with a medium attachment to their school, a much

higher percentage of those in Irfaifeh's study reported being in-

volved in delinquency (67% vs. 43%).

Finally, with respect to the low category, of Hirschi's 1227

subjects, 94 were in the low category. Of the 94, 34 (36%) respond-

ents who were placed in the low category did not report any delin-

quency involvement, while 60 (64%) respondents in the same category

did report one or more delinquency acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects,

17 were in the low category. Of the 17, one (6%) subject was in this

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 105

category and did not report any delinquent acts. However, 16 (94%)

respondents who were in the low category did report one or more

delinquent acts. This comparison shows that of the subjects with a

low attachment to their schools, a much higher percentage of those in

Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in delinquency (94% vs. 64%).

In sum, according to Irfaifeh's findings, the results are consistent

with the theory, 49% of the respondents who were highly attached to

their school reported delinquent acts, while 94% of the respondents

who were weakly attached to their schools reported delinquency involve-

ment.

Another item to assess the bond to school was examined with

the question: "In general, do you like or dislike school?" (Like/

neither like nor dislike it/dislike it). These responses were

categorized as: High= "like it"; Medium= "neither like nor dislike

school"; and Low= "dislike it." Table 5 illustrates the comparison

of the two studies.

Table 5

Self-Reported Delinquent Acts by Attitudes Toward School:

"In General, do you Like or Dislike School?"

Self-Reported Acts High Medium Low

Nondelinquents HM 68%* HM 48%* HM 33%*

IM 58% IM 25% IM 11%

Delinquents HM 32%* HM 52%* HM 67%*

IM 42% IM 75% IM 89%

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 106

Table 5--Continued

Self-Reported Acts High Medium Low

Total HM* (580) (648) (72)

Total IM ( 85) ( 53) ( 9)

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 33,
(1969, p. 121).

Of Hirschi's 1300 subjects, 580 were in the high category. Of the

580, 394 (68%) of respondents who reported liking school did not report

any delinquent acts, while 186 (32%) respondents from the same category

did report delinquent acts. For Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 85 were in

the high category. Of the 85, 49 (58%) respondents who were in the

same category (high attachment to school) did not report any delinquent

acts. However, 36 (42%) respondents who were in the same category did

report delinquent acts. This comparison shows that of the subjects

with a high attachment to their schools, a much higher percentage of

those in Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in delinquency

(42% vs. 32%).

With regard to the medium category, of Hirschi's 1300 subjects,

648 were in the medium category. Of the 648, 311 (48%) respondents

did not report any delinquent acts. However, 337 (52%) respondents

in the same category did report delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147

subjects, 53 were in the medium category. Of the 53, 13 (25%)

respondents in the medium category did not report any delinquent acts,

while 40 (75%) respondents from the same category did report delin-

quent acts. The comparison shows that of those moderately attached

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 107

to their school, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects

reported being involved in delinquent acts (75% vs. 52%).

Finally, with respect to those placed in the low category, of

Hirschi's 1300 subjects, 72 were placed in the low category. Of the

72, 24 (33%) respondents did not report any delinquent acts. However,

48 (67%) respondents did report one or more delinquent acts. Of

Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 9 students were in the low category. Of the

9, one student (11%) did not report any delinquent act, while 8 (89%)

respondents did report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison

shows that for those subjects who had low attachment to their school,

a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being in-

volved in delinquency (89% vs. 67%). To sum up this table, Irfaifeh's

findings were consistent with Hirschi's theory, that the higher the

attachment to a conventional figure (school) the less likely the

delinquency, and the lower the attachment, the more likely the

delinquency.

Further testing was conducted to assess the bond to the con-

ventional figure (school). Respondents were asked the following

question: "Do you care what teachers think of you?" (A lot/somewhat/

not much), or high, medium and low. Table 6 illustrates the compar-

ison of the two studies.

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 108

Table 6

Self-Reported Delinquent Acts by Concern for Teacher's Opinions:

"Do You Care What Teachers Think of You?"

Self-Reported Acts High Medium Low

Nondelinquents HM 66%* HM 53%* HM 36%*

IM 85% IM 43% IM 34%

Delinquents HM 34%* HM 47%* HM 64%*

IM 15% IM 57% IM 66%

Total HM* (588) (503) (209) 1300

Total IM ( 21) ( 53) ( 73) 147

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 34,
(1969, p. 123).

Hirschi (1969) stated that "the less a boy cares about what

teachers think of him, the more likely he is to have committed

delinquent acts" (p. 123). Of Hirschi's 1300 subjects, 588 were in

the high category. Of the 588, 388 (66%) respondents who were placed

in the high category did not report any delinquent acts. However, 200

(34%) respondents in the same category did report one or more delin-

quent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 21 were in the high category.

Of the 21, 18 (85%) respondents who were in the high category did not

report any delinquent acts, while 3 (15%) respondents from the same

category did report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison shows

that for those who were highly attached (care a lot) about their

teacher's opinions, a much higher percentage of Hirschi's subjects

were involved in delinquency (34% vs. 15%).

For the second category (medium), of Hirschi's 1300 subjects,

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 109

503 were in the medium category. Of the 503, 267 (53%) respondents

who were placed in this category did not report any delinquent acts.

However, 236 (47%) respondents from the same categocy did report one

or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 53 were in the

medium category. Of the 53, 23 (43%) respondents in the medium cate-

gory did not report any delinquent acts, while 30 (57%) respondents

from the same category did report one or more delinquent acts. The

comparison shows that of the subjects with medium atta.chment to their

teachers, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported

being involved in delinquency (57% vs. 47%).

Finally, regarding the subjects in the low category: of Hir-

schi's 1300 subjects, 209 were in the low category; of the 209, 75

(36%) respondents who were placed in the low category did not report

any delinquent acts; however, 134 (64%) respondents did report one or

more delinquent acts. For Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 73 were in the low

category. Of the 73, 25 (34%) respondents who were placed in the low

category did not report any delinquent acts, while 48 (66%) respond-

ents from the same category did report one or more delinquent acts.

The comparison shows that of the subjects with a low attachment to

their teachers, almost the same percentage in both studies reported

being involved in delinquency (66% vs. 64%). In sum, Irfaifeh's

findings supported Hirschi's theory, that the higher the attachment

to the conventional figure (teacher), the less likely the delinquency

involvement.

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 110

Attachment to Peers

Hirschi stated that delinquent behavior of one's own friends is

strongly related to one's own delinquent behavior. Respondents were

asked the following question: "Have any of your close friends ever

been picked up by the police?" The six possible responses were:

"No," "one," "two," "three," "four or more," and "I don't know."

These were collapsed into three categories: None, 1-3 Friends, and

4 or more Friends. The "I don't know" response was excluded from

the comparison. Table 7 illustrates the comparison.

Table 7

Self-Reported Delinquency by Friends, Contact With the Police:

"Have any of Your Close Friends Ever Been
Picked up by the Police?"

None 1-3 Friends 4-More Friends

Nondelinquents HM 73%* HM 45%* HM 25%*

IM 0% IM 8% IM 33%

Delinquents HM 27%* HM 55%* HM 75%*

IM 100% IM 92% IM 67%

Total HM* (520) (323) (208)

Total IM ( 2) ( 52) ( 93)

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 24
(1969, p. 99).

Of Hirschi'G 1051 subjects, 52 were 520 were in the high category.

Of the 520, 380 (73%) respondents who did not have any close friends

picked up by the police did not report any delinquent acts. However,

140 (27%) of subjects who were in the same category did report one

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 111

or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, no one reported

delinquent acts among those who had no close friends picked up by

the police, while only two students (100%) who did not have any

friends picked up by the police reported one or more delinquent acts.

The comparison of the two studies shows that of the subjects with no

friends picked up by the police, a much higher percentage of those in

Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in delinquency (100% vs. 27%).

With respect to the second category (1-3 friends), of Hirschi's

1051 subjects, 323 were in the medium category. Of the 323, 145

(45%) respondents who had one to three friends who had had contact

with the police did not report any delinquent acts. However 178 (55%)

respondents who had had one to three friends picked up by the police

reported one or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 52

were in the medium category. Of the 52, 4 (8%) of respondents who had

had one to three friends picked up by the police did report one or more

delinquent acts, while 48 (92%) respondents who had had one to three

friends picked up by the police reported one or more delinquent acts.

The comparison shows that of the subjects who had one to three friends

picked up by the police, a much higher percentage of those in Irfaifeh's

study reported being involved in delinquency (92% vs. 55%).

Finally, for those who had four or more friends picked up by the

police, of Hirschi's 1051 subjects, 208 were in the third category.

Of the 208, 52 (25%) respondents who were in this category did not

report any delinquent acts. However, 156 (75%) respondents in this

category (four or more friends) did report one or more delinquent

acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 83 were in the third category. Of

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 112

the 83, 31 (33%) of respondents who were placed in this category did

not report any delinquent acts, while 52 (67%) respondents did report

one or more delinquent acts. In sum, the findings of Irfaifeh's study

did not support Hirschi's theory on this item.

Hirschi went further to suggest that the greater the attachment

to friends, the lower the reported delinquent involvement. Table 8

illustrates the comparison for the two studies.

Table 8

Self-Reported Delinquency by Identification With Best Friends:

"Would you like to be the Kind of Person
Your Best Friends Are?"

Self-Reported Delinquency In Most Ways In Few Ways Not At All

Nondelinquents HM 64%* HM 54%* HM 47%*

IM 14% IM 27% IM 25%

Delinquents HM 36%* HM 46%* HM 53%*

IM 86% IM 73% IM 75%

Total HM* (353) (748) (160)

Total IM ( 28) ( 34) ( 85)

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 44
(1969, p. 146).

Of Hirschi's 1261 subjects, 353 were in the first category. Of

the 353, 226 (64%) respondents who reported "in most ways" in their

attachment to their best friends did not report any delinquent acts.

However 127 (36%) respondents, who were placed in this category did

report one or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 28

were in the first category. Of the 23, 4 (14%) respondents who

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 113

reported "in most ways" with respect to their identification with

their best friends did not report any delinquent acts, while 24

(86%) respondents in the same category did report one or more delin-

quent acts. The comparison shows that of the subjects who identified

with their best friends in most ways, a much higher percentage of

those in Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in delinquency (86%

vs. 36%).

With respect to those in the second category, "in a few ways," of

Hirschi's 1261 subjects, 748 were in the second category. Of the 748,

404 (54%) respondents did not report any delinquent acts. However,

345 (46%) of respondents in this category did report one or more

delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 34 were in the second

category. Of the 34, 10 (27%) respondents who identified with their

best friends in a few ways did not report any delinquent acts, while

24 (73%) respondents in the same category did report one or more

delinquent acts. Again, the comparison of the two studies with re-

spect to this category shows that of the subjects in Irfaifeh's study,

a much higher percentage reported being involved in delinquency (73%

vs. 46%).

For those who did not identify themselves at all with their best

friends, of Hirschi's 1261 subjects, 160 were in the third category.

Of the 160, 75 (47%) respondents did not report any delinquent acts,

while 85 (53%) respondents in this category did report one or more

delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 85 were in the third

category. Of the 85, 21 (25%) of the respondents did not report any

delinquent acts. However, 64 (75%) of respondents who did not

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 114

identify themselves at all with their friends did report one or mvre

delinquent acts. Again, the comparison of the two studies with re-

spect to this issue shows a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's

subjects who reported being involved in delinquency (75% vs. 53%).

In sum, according to Table 8, Irfaifeh's findings did not support

Hirschi's theory on this item.

Commitment to Conventional Activities

Hirschi (1969) suggested that commitment to conventional activi-

ties such as doing well in school, achieving good grades, etc.,

constrain delinquency. On the other hand, involvement in adult

activities such as smoking, dating, drinking is related to delin-

quent behavior.

Involvement in adult activities was measured by many items such

as: "Do you smoke cigarettes?" There were four possible responses

to this question: (1) "Yes, began before 13"; (2) "Yes, began 13-

15"; (3) "Yes, began after 15 years old"; and (4) "No." For purposes

of comparison the four responses were collapsed into two responses:

"yes" =Responses 1, 2, and 3; and "no" =Response 4. Table 9 illus-

trates the comparison between the two studies.

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Table 9

Self-Reported Delinquency by Smoking:

"Do You Smoke?"

Self-Reported Acts Yes No

Nondelinquents HM 30%* HM 65%*

IM 26% IM 10%

Delinquents HM 70%* HM 35%*

IM 74% IM 90%

Total HM* (300) (952) 1251

Total IM (126) ( 21) 147

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his

Table 55 (1969, p. 167).

Of Hirschi's 1252 subjects, 300 were in the "yes" category. Of

the 300, 89 (30%) respondents who were placed in the "yes" category did

not report any delinquent acts. However, 211 (70%) respondents from

the same category did report one or more delinquent acts. For

Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 126 were in the "yes" category. Of the 126, 33

(26%) from the "yes" category did not report any delinquent acts, while

93 (74%) of respondents who were in the same category did report one or

more delinquent acts. The comparison shows that of those subjects who

reported smoking, the percentages of the two studies were very close

(70% for Hirschi's study and 74% for Irfaifeh's study) with regard to

reported delinquent acts.

With respect to the second category, non-smokers, of Hirschi's

1252 subjects, 952 were in the "no" category. Of the 952, 619 (65%)

respondents who did not smoke reported no delinquency involvement,

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 116

while 333 (35%) respondents from the same category did report one or

more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 21 were in the "no"

category. Of the 21, 2 (10%) respondents of the non-smokers did not

report any delinquent acts. However, 19 (90%) of respondents in this

category did report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison

shows that of those subjects who did not smoke, a much higher per-

centage of Irfaifeh's study reported being involved in delinquency.

Thus, Hirschi's theory with respect to this type of adult activity

(smoking) was not supported.

With respect to alcohol consumption and dating as forms of adult

activities, of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 2 (40%) respondents who never

consumed alcohol did not report any delinquent acts, while 3 (60%)

respondents from the same category did report one or more delinquent

acts.

With respect to the second category, ("yes"), 33 (24%) respondents

who had had alcohol in the last academic year did not report any

delinquent acts. However, 109 (76%) respondents from the same cate-

gory did report one or more delinquent acts. Therefore, drinking was

related to delinquency involvement. Hirschi did not give figures

about drinking, but he suggested that drinking was more strongly re-

lated to delinquency than smoking, and also dating was strongly re-

lated to delinquency as well. However, as we have seen in Table 7,

smoking among Irfaifeh's subjects was not related to delinquency

involvement in contrast to Hirschi's theory, but drinking was found to

be strongly related.

The final item of adult activities to be tested here was dating.

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 117

The possible responses were "yes" or "no." Of Irfaifeh's 147 sub-

jects, 7 were in the "no" category. Of the 7, one (14%) respondent

who never dated in the last academic year did not report any delin-

quent acts. However 6 (86%) respondents who were placed in the same

category of "no" did report one or more delinquent acts. With respect

to the second category of "yes", of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 140 were

in the "yes" category. Of the 140, 34 (24%) respondents did not re-

port any delinquent acts, while 106 (76%) respondents from the same

category did report one or more delinquent acts. Therefore, dating

was not found to be strongly related to delinquency in the sense that

86% of those who never dated reported being involved in delinquency

vs. 76% of respondents who were dating and reported being involved in

delinquency. Thus, with respect to dating, Hirschi's theory was not

supported. Hirschi did not give figures about dating and delinquency

in his study.

Commitment to conventional activities such as the importance of

getting good grades and time devoted to do homework were also related

to delinquency as Hirschi suggested. In order to measure commitment

to conventional activities, the respondents were asked the following

question: "How important is getting good grades to you personally?"

There were four possible responses to this question: (1) "very

important," (2) "somewhat important," (3) fairly important," and (4)

"completely unimportant." These four responses \'lere collapsed into

three categories for comparison purposes. High= (1); Medium= (2)

& (3); and Low= (4). Table 10 illustrates the comparison of the two

studies.

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 118

Table 10

Self-Reported Delinquency by Perceived Importance of Good Grades:

"How Important is Getting Good Grades to You Personally?"

Self-Reported Acts High Medium Low

Nondelinquents HM 64%* HM 50%* HM 21%*

IM 0% IM ?% IM 32%

Delinquents HM 36%* HM 50%* HM 79%*

IM 100% IM 91% IM 68%

Total HM* (674) (585) (38) 1297

Total IM ( 4) ( 45) (98) 147

*The results of Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 94

(1969, p. 224).

According to Table 10, of Hirschi's 1297 subjects, 674 were in

the high category. Of the 674, 432 (64%) respondents who were placed

in the high category did not report any delinquent acts. However,

243 (36%) respondents from the same category did report one or more

delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 subjects, 4 were in the high

category. Of the 4, no one was found in the high category and

therefore, no delinquency involvement was reported, while 4 (100%)

respondents who were placed in the high category did report one or

more delinquent acts. With respect to the medium category, of

Hirschi's 1297 subjects, 585 were in the medium category. Of the

585, 293 (50%) respondents did not report any delinquent acts, while

the other half did report one or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's

147 subjects, 45 were in the medium category. Of the 45, 4 (9%)

respondents did not report any delinquent acts, however, 41 (91%)

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 119

respondents who were found in the same category, medium, did report

one or more delinquent acts. Finally, in the low category of Hirschi's

1297 subjects, 38 were in the low category. Of the 38, 8 (21%) re-

spondents did not report any delinquent acts, while 30 (79%) respond-

ents did report one or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 147 sub-

jects, 98 were in the low category. Of the 98, 32 (32%) respondents

of those in the low category did not report any delinquent acts. How-

ever, 66 (68%) respondents from the same category did report one or

more delinquent acts. The comparison shows that of those who were

weakly committed to achieving good grades, a higher percentage of

Hirschi's subjects reported being involved in delinquency. However,

Irfaifeh's findings were not consistent with Hirschi's theory with

respect to this item.

Involvement in Conventional Activities

Time devoted to doing homework as a measure of both commitment

and involvement in conventional activities was measured by the number

of hours per day of involvement from one and one-half hours or more,

one hour, one-half hour, and less than one-half hour. Table 11

illustrates the comparison of the two studies.

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 120

Table 11

Percent Committing One or More Delinquent Acts

by Time Devoted to Homework

1-1/2 1 1/2 Less Than

Time Reported Hours Hour Hour 1/2 Hour

Delinquents HM 34%* HM 48%* HM 52%* HM 64%*

IM 66% IM 71% IM 80% IM 80%

Total HM* (593) (361) (199) (117) 1270

Total IM ( 6) ( 5) ( 41) ( 60) 112

*The figures for Hirschi's males were derived from his Table 71
(1969, p. 191).

According to Table 11, of Hirschi's 1270 subjects who reported

being involved in delinquency 593 (34%) respondents did report one

or more delinquent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 112 subjects who reported

being involved in delinquency from the first category, one and one-

half hours or more, 6 (66%) respondents did report one or more delin-

quent acts. The comparison shows that of the subjects who devoted

one and one-half hours or more a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's

subjects reported being involved in delinquency (66% vs. 34%).

With respect to the second category, those who devoted one hour

to do their homework, of Hirschi's 1270 subjects who reported being

involved in delinquency, 361 (48%) respondents devoted one hour only.

Of Irfaifeh's 112 subjects, 5 (71%) respondents of those from the same

category did report one or more delinquent acts. Again, comparing

the two studies, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects re-

ported being involved in delinquency (71% vs. 48%).

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 121

For the third category containing those subjects who spent one-

half hour and reported being involved in delinquency, of Hirschi's

1270 subjects, 199 (52%) respondents did report one or more delin-

quent acts. Of Irfaifeh's 112 subjects who reported being involved

in delinquency, 41 (80%) respondents from the same category did report

one or more delinquent acts. Again, comparing the two studies with

respect to this category, one-half hour, a much higher percentage of

Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved in delinquency (80% vs.

52%). Finally, regarding those subjects who devoted less than one-

half hour to doing homework, and who reported being involved in de-

linquency, of Hirschi's 1270 subjects, 60 (64%) respondents did report

delinquent acts. With respect to Irfaifeh's subjects 60 (80%)

respondents being placed in this category did report one or more

delinquent acts. The comparison shows that in all four categories, a

much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved

in delinquency. Moreover, no big differences were found among the four

categories with respect to time devoted to homework and delinquency.

Thus, Hirschi's theory was not supported by Irfaifeh's study on this

item.

Besides testing the relationship between academic involvement

and reported delinquency behavior, another non-academic item of

school-related activities was tested in Irfaifeh's sample only. The

following question was used to assess the bond between non-academic

school activities and delinquency behavior.

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 122

Table 12

Self-Reported Delinquency by Involvement in School-Related Activities:

"Are You Active in School Activities?"

Self-Reported Very Somewhat Not Active

Delinquency Active Active At All I Don't Know

Nondelinquents 6 (15%) 23 (29%) 4 (27%) 2 (13%)

Delinquents 33 (85%) 50 (71%) 11 (73%) 11 (73%)

Total 39 73 15 13

According to Table 12, 39 were in the very active category. Of

the 39, 6 (15%) respondents who reported being very active in school-

related activities did not report any delinquent behavior. However,

33 (85%) respondents from the same category did report one or more

delinquent acts. Comparing the two groups (85% vs. 15%) of nondelin-

quents vs. delinquents the data was not supportive of Hirschi's

theory. With respect to the second category the somewhat active

group, 73 were in the somewhat active category. Of the 73, 23 (29%)

respondents did not report any delinquent behavior, however, 50 (71%)

respondents did report one or more delinquent acts. With respect to

the third group of not active at all, 15 were in the not active at

all category. Of the 15, 4 (27%) respondents did not report any

delinquent acts, compared to 11 (73%) of respondents who did report

one or more delinquent acts. Finally, of the "I don't know" category,

13 were in that category. Of the 13, 2 (13%) respondents did not re-

port any delinquent acts, while 11 (73%) of respondents did report one

or more delinquent acts. The overall comparison among the four

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 123

categories did not support Hirschi's theory, as illustrated in the

table where 85% of respondents who reported being very active com-

mitted one or more delinquent acts versus 73% of respondents who

reported being not active at all repcrted one or more delinquency

acts. However, seven students did not respond to this question.

Belief

Hirschi (1969) claimed that "delinquency behavior does not re-

sult from beliefs which require delinquency but instead that delin-

quency is made possible by the absence of beliefs that forbid delin-

quency" (p. 198). Hirschi used many items to assess the relationship

between belief in the conventional order and involvement in delin-

quent activities. These items were: respect for police, attitudes

toward the law, belief in individual responsibility, helplessness to

avoid trouble, denial of injury, denial of the victim, and finally,

condemnation of the condemner.

The possible responses for these items were the following:

"strongly agree," "agree," "undecided," "disagree," and "strongly

disagree." For comparison purposes the five responses were collapsed

into three responses: (1) "agree and "strongly agree," (2) "undecided,"

and (3) "disagree" and "strongly disagree." Table 13 illustrates the

comparison of the two studies.

According to Table 13, of Hirschi's subjects who agreed with the

statement "I have a lot of respect for the police," 769 (35%)

respondents did report one or more delinquent acts. \~ile in Irfaifeh's

study, 25 (83%) respondents did report one or more delinquent acts.

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 124

Table 13

Percent Committing One or More Delinquent Acts

By Hirschi's Belief Items

Belief Agree N** Undecided N** Disagree N**

1. I have a lot of respect HM 35%* 769 54%* 325 63%* 187

for the Richmond police. IM 83% 25 88% 22 71% 65

2 0 It is alright to get
around the law if you HM 69%* 142 54%* 219 73%* 919
can get away with it. IM 84% 16 82% 18 74% 78

3 Most criminals shouldn't

0

be blamed for the things HM 51%* 154 48%* 177 41%* 952
they have done. IM 74% 63 92% 11 76% 38

4. I can't seem to stay out

of trouble no matter how HM 66%* 150 49%* 176 38%* 842
hard I try. IM 76% 78 78% 32 50% 2

5. Most things people call

delinquency don't really HM 59%* 310 49%* 432 36%* 540
hurt anyone. IM 73% 19 81% 22 75% 71

6. The man who leaves his

keys in his car is as
much to blame for its
theft as the man who HM 43%* 852 49%* 131 43%* 313
steals it. IM 78% 78 60% 14 83% 20

7 0 Policemen try to give HM 50%* 720 56%* 255 79%* 311

all kids an even break. IM 100% 57 91% 36 68% 19

*The results for Hirschi's males were derived from his Tables 78, 80, 82, 83, 84,
85, 86 (1969, pp. 201-211).

**Those who committed delinquent acts.

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 125

The comparison shows that a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's

subjects reported being involved in delinquency (83% vs. 35%). For

those in the second category of undecided, of Hirschi's subjects, 325

(54%) respondents did report one or more delinquent acts compared to

22 (88%) respondents in Irfaifeh's study. Again, the comparison shows

a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects who reported being

involved in delinquency (88% vs. 54%).

Finally, of Hirschi's subjects, 187 (63%) respondents who either

disagree or disagree strongly committed one or more delinquent acts.

Of Irfaifeh's subjects, 22 (71%) respondents in the same category did

report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison shows a much

higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved in

delinquency. In sum, according to Irfaifeh's findings, Hirschi's

theory was not supported in the sense that we expected those in the

first category to have less delinquent acts reported versus the last

category. With respect to the second item, attitudes toward the iaw,

of Hirschi's subjects, 142 (69%) respondents who agreed with the

statement did report one or more delinquent acts, compared with

Irfaifeh's subjects 16 (84%) respondents from the same category did

report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison shows that of those

who agreed with the statement "it is all right to get around the law if

you can get away with it," a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's

subjects reported being involved in delinquency (84% vs. 69%). With

respect to those subjects in the undecided category, of Hirschi's

subjects, 219 (54%) respondents reported one or more delinquent acts,

compared to 18 (82%) respondents in Irfaifeh's study. Again, the

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 126

comparison shows a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects who

reported being involved in delinquency, (82% vs. 54%).

With respect to the final category, of Hirschi's subjects who

disagreed with the above statement, 919 (73%) respondents reported

one or more delinquent acts compared to Irfaifeh's subjects, 78 (74%)

respondents did report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison

shows that Hirschi's theory was not supported by his study nor by

the present one.

The third item to assess the relationship between belief and

involvement in delinquency was: "Most criminals should not be blam-

ed for the things they have done." Of Hirschi's subjects, 154 (51%)

respondents who agreed with the statement did report one or more

delinquent acts. The comparison shows of those subjects who agreed

with the above statement, a much higher percentage of lrfaifeh's study

reported being involved in delinquency (74% vs. 51%).

With respect to the second category of undecided, 177 (48%)

respondents in Hirschi's study reported one or more delinquent acts.

In lrfaifeh's study, 11 (92%) of respondents in the same category did

report one or more delinquent acts. Again, the comparison shows a much

higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved in

delinquency (92% vs. 48%).

The third category, those subjects who disagreed with the above

statement, 952 (41%) respondents of Hirschi's subjects reported one

or more delinquent acts versus 38 (76%) respondents in Irfaifeh's study.

The comparison shows that for those subjects who disagreed with the

statement, a much higher percentage of lrfaifeh's subjects reported

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 127

being involved in delinquency. In sum, with respect to the third

item, attitudes toward the law, Hirschi's theory was not supported

by Irfaifeh's study.

The fourth item, "I can't seem to stay out of trouble no matter

how hard I try," of Hirschi's subjects 150 (66%) who agreed with the

above statement reported one or more delinquent acts versus 78 (76%)

respondents in Irfaifeh's study who agreed with the statement, andre-

ported one or more delinquent acts. The comparison of the two studies

shows that of those subjects who agreed with the above statement, a

much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved

in delinquency (76% vs. 66%).

With respect to the second category, undecided, Hirschi's 176

(49%) respondents who were undecided reported one or more delinquent

acts. For Irfaifeh's subjects, 32 (78%) respondents in the same

category did report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison shows

that of those subjects who were undecided about the statement, a much

higher per~entage of Irfaifeh's subjects did report one or more

delinquent acts (78% vs. 48%).

The final category, those subjects who disagreed with the state-

ments, of Hirschi's subjects, 842 (38%) respondents did report one or

more delinquent acts. In Irfaifeh's study 2 (SO%) respondents from the

same category did report one or more delinquent acts. The comparison

shows of those subjects who disagreed with the fourth statement, a

much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved

in delinquency. However, Irfaifeh's findings did support Hirschi's

study with respect to the fourth item.

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 128

The fifth item to assess the relationship between the bond and

involvement in delinquency was, most criminals shouldn't really be

blamed for the things they have done. Of Hirschi's subjects, 310

(59%) respondents who agreed with the statement did report one or

more delinquent acts. With respect to Irfaifeh's findings, 19 (73%)

respondents who were in this category reported being involved in de-

linquency. The comparison shows that of those subjects who agreed

with the statement, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's study did

report one or more delinquent acts (73% vs. 59%).

For the undecided category, 432 (49%) respondents in Hirschi's

study reported one or more delinquent acts, compared to 22 (81%)

respondents in Irfaifeh's study. Therefore, a much higher percentage

of Irfaifeh's subjects who were undecided about the statement reported

being involved in delinquent behavior (81% vs. 49%).

Finally, with respect to the subjects who disagreed with the

above statements, 540 (36%) respondents of Hirschi's study did report

one or more delinquent acts. Compared to Irfaifeh's subjects, 71 (75%)

respondents who were placed in the same category did report one or

more delinquent acts. The comparison shows that of those subjects

who disagreed with the above statements, a much higher percentage of

Irfaifeh's subjects reported being involved in delinquency (75% vs.

36%). Thus, with respect to this item, no support was found for

Hirschi's theory in Irfaifeh's study.

The sixth item, the man who leaves his keys in his car is as

much to blame for its theft as the man who steals it, of Hirschi's

respondents 852 (43%) who agreed with the statement did report one or

------------------------------ --

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 129

more delinquent acts. For Irfaifeh's subjects, 78 (78%) of respond-

ents who did agree with the statement reported one or more delinquent

acts. The comparison shows that of those subjects who agreed with

the above statements, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects

reported being involved in delinquency (78% vs. 43%).

For the undecided category, 131 (49%) respondents in Hirschi's

study reported one or more delinquent acts. Compared to Irfaifeh's

findings, 14 (60%) respondents did report one or more delinquent

acts. Again, the comparison shows that of those subjects who were

undecided, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported

being involved in delinquency.

Finally, those subjects who disagreed with the above statement,

313 (43%) respondents in Hirschi's study did report one or more de-

linquent acts, compared to 20 (83%) of respondents in Irfaifeh's

study. The comparison shows that of those subjects who disagreed

with the above statement, a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's

subjects reported being involved in delinquency. In sum, with re-

spect to this item, Hirschi's theory was supported in the sense that

78% of respondents who agreed with the statement did report one or

more delinquent acts versus 83% of respondents who disagreed with

the statement and did report one or more delinquent acts.

Finally, the last item to assess the relationship between the

bond and involvement in delinquency was that policemen try to give

all kids an even break. Of Hirschi's subjects, 720 (SO%) of re-

spondents who agreed with the statement did report one or more de-

linquent acts. In Irfaifeh's study, 57 (100%) respondents who agreed

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 130

with the statement reported one or more delinquent acts. Therefore,

a much higher percentage of Irfaifeh's subjects reported being in-

volved in delinquency.

With respect to the second category of undecided, 255 (56%)

respondents in Hirschi's study did report one or more delinquent acts

versus 36 (91%) of respondents in Irfaifeh's study. Again, the per-

centage of those subjects in Irfaifeh's study was much higher than

Hirschi's study.

The last category consisting of those subjects who disagree with

the statement, 311 (79%) respondents of Hirschi's subjects did report

one or more delinquent acts. For Irfaifeh's study, 19 (68%) respondents

who were placed in the same category reported one or more delinquent

acts. The comparison shows that of those who disagreed with the

above statement, a much higher percentage of Hirschi's subjects re-

ported being involved in delinquency. However, Hirschi's theory was

not supported with respect to this item.

In sum, two items (4, 6) were found to be supportive of Hir-

schi's theory, while the rest of the items did not support the theory

at all.

Summary

The aim of this section was to determine the degree to which the

univariate relationship found and reported in Hirschi's study hold

for the Jordanian society. It was clear from the overall correspon-

dence between Hirschi's results and the results in this research,

that there was an inconsistency between the two studies with some

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 131

minor exceptions.

Attachment to father was supported and consistent with Hirschi's

findings and even further, attachment to father was found to be

stronger and more effective in deterring delinquent behavior than

attachment to mother. In fact, attachment to mother was not consis-

tent at all. Attachment to school as measured by "how do you rate

yourself in school ability compared with other students in your

school" and "in general do you like or dislike school" were related

to delinquent involvement.

Attachment to peers as measured by friends' contact with the po-

lice was not supported and attachment to peers measured by identifi-

cation with friends was inconsistent with the theory. Therefore,

attachment to significant others, with three exceptions "attachment to

fathers, teachers, and schools" were found inconsistent to Hirschi's

findings.

Commitment to conventional activities as measured by the impor-

tance of getting good grades was inconsistent with Hirschi's theory.

Concerning commitment to adult activities--smoking, drinking and dating,

the research results with respect to smoking and dating were not

consistent with Hirschi's theory, while drinking was found related to

delinquent involvement.

With respect to involvement in conventional activities and

delinquency behavior as measured by time devoted to homework, the

research findings were inconsistent and did not support Hirschi's

theory. Regarding involvement in non-academic, school-related

activities, the research findings were also inconsistent with Hirschi's

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 132

theory.

Looking at the element belief, the following aspects were found

to be inconsistent with Hirschi's results: (a) respect for police,

(b) attitudes toward the denial of responsibility, (c) denial of in-

jury, and (d) equitability of police treatment. Helplessness to avoid

trouble, and denial of injury, were the only two items were consistent

with the theory.

Further analysis was conducted to test the four hypotheses of

this research. The results are reported in the next section.

Test of the Research Hypotheses

In this section test of the research hypotheses were conducted

using the t-test. The statistical analyses were computed in testing

the nondirectional hypotheses using .05 critical value for committing

a type 1 error (alpha). However, before we proceed to talk about the

research hypotheses, the writer believes that the reader should be

acquainted with the indices used to test the hypotheses.

Each independent variable was measured by several items, as men-

tioned in the third chapter. Thus, attachment to mother was measured

by a seven-item index, and "an index is a variable which is a compo-

site of other variables that are assumed to reflect some underlying

construct" (Bohrnstedt & Kroke, 1982, p. 359). In this case the

attachment to mother index is the sum of each individual's responses

to seven items. The seven items deal with intimacy of communication

between mother and child, identifications with mother, and supervi-

sor. Each item in this index has a score which ranges from 1 to 3.

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Thus, each individual total scores ranges from 7-21. Attachment to

father was treated in the same fashion.

With respect to attachment to peers, a five-item index was

constructed as also mentioned in the third chapter. The five items

deal with identification with best friends, teachers, attitudes toward

one's friends, respect best friends, and finally friends' contact with

police. Each item has a score which ranges from 1 to 3. The total

scores of each individual score ranges from 5-15.

Attachment to school was measured by a seven-item index. The

seven items deal with attitudes toward school, teachers, self-

scholastic ability, self-rating in school ability, school-generated

emotional tension. Each item has three responses which range from 1 to

3. Consequently, each individual total scores ranges from 7-21.

Commitment to conventional activities was measured by a seven-

item index. Each item has these responses: high to low. The seven

items deal with educational aspiration, educational expectation, and

GPA. The range of each individual's total scores ranges from 7-21.

Involvement in conventional activities was measured by an eight-

item index. Each item has three responses (high to low). The eight

items deal with time devoted to homework, religiosity, housework, and

attitudes toward school. The index score ranges from 8 to 24 for each

individual's total scores.

Finally, with respect to belief, an eight-item index was used to

measure this variable. The eight items deal with attitudes toward

police, law, and individual's responsibility; each item has three

responses from high (agree) to low (disagree). Thus, the total

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 134

individual's scores range from 8 to 24.

The following hypotheses were tested:

1. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to significant others.

2. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to commitment to conventional activities.

3. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to involvement in the conventional order.

4. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to belief in the conventional order.

With respect to the first hypothesis, attachment to significant

others, four subhypotheses were created: attachment to mother,

father, school and peers. The reader should notice in the following

pages that the writer will start an overall test of the whole index,

then an individual test will be conducted for each item in the four

indices.

Hypothesis 1

There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to significant others.

The data presented in Table 14 did support the relationship

stated in Hl. According to the data in Table 14, the mean scores of

nondelinquents on the attachment's index was slightly higher than the

total scores of delinquents, 57.6 vs. 56.7, respectively.

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Table 14

Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and Nondelinquents

on Attachment to Significant Others Index

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Mean SD N Mean SD N df t p

57.6 6.1 35 56.7 5.3 109 142 .84 .4

The mean differences between the two groups (delinquents and non-

delinquents) of self-reported behavior on the attachment index was not

significant at alpha level .05 (t = .8; p = .4). Therefore, the null

hypothesis was accepted, and the alternative hypothesis had to be

rejected.

Individual Tests

According to Table 15, the total scores of the nondelinquents

and delinquents on all attachment indices (mother, father, school,

and peers) with the exception of attachment to father index was high-

er than the mean scores of delinquents on each of the attachment

indices.

Table 15

T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

on Attachment Indices

Attachment
To Signifi- Nondelinquents Delinquents
cant Others N Mean SD N Mean SD df t p

Father 35 13.9 3.07 112 14.4 3.07 145 - .89 .37

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Table 15--Continued

Attachment
To Signifi- Nondelinquents Delinquents
cant Others N Mean SD N Mean SD df t: p

Mother 35 14.6 2.90 112 14.3 2.5 145 .63 .5

School 35 16.5 2.40 112 15.9 2.5 145 1.26 .2

Peers 35 12.5 2.11 112 12.1 1.9 145 1.14 .2

No significant differences were found at .05 level, between the two

groups. The mean score of nondelinquents on the attachment to father

index was 13.9, less than the mean score of nondelinquents on the

attachment to mother index. The mean score of delinquents on the

attachment to father index was slightly higher than the mean score of

delinquents on the attachment to mother index, 14.42 and 14.25,

respectively.

Regarding attachment to school index, nondelinquents had higher

mean score (16.5) than the delinquents (15.9), which indicates that

attachment to school might have had some effect on their behavior.

However, no significant differences were found between the two groups.

Finally, nondelinquents had a higher mean score (12.5) than the delin-

quents (11.11) on the attachment to peers index. Again, although the

differences between the two groups were not significant, even so,

attachment to peers for the nondelinquents was higher according to their

total scores on the index. In sum, no significant differences were

found between the two groups on the four attachment indices.

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 137

Hypothesis la

There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to mother in each item in

the mother's attachment index.

The data presented in the previous table (15) indicated no signifi-

cant differences between the two groups with respect to attachment

to mother index. Now we turn to each item on the attachment to mother

index in order to see if the mean score of the two groups are the

same or different.

As mentioned earlier, a seven-item index was constructed to mea-

sure attachment to mother, and each item ranged from low (1) to high

(3). The data presented in Table 16 indicated that the mean score

of nondelinquents was less than the mean score of delinquents on

items 1, 2, 5, 7, while they had the same mean score on the rest of

the items 3, 4, 6. The actual alpha for items 1, 2, 5 and 7 was .3,

.5, .4 and .3 respectively. Thus, attachment to mother had no sig-

nificant effect on the self-reported behavior of the two groups.

Consequently, the null hypothesis was accepted, and the alternative

hypothesis had to be rejected.

Hypothesis lb

There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to father in each item

in the father attachment index.

It was revealed in Table 15 that no significant differences were

found between delinquents and nondelinquents mean score on the

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Table 16

T- test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and De 1 inquents

on Mother's Attachment Index (Item by Item)

Item #
Regarding Nondelin'quents Delinquents
Mother N Mean so N Mean so df p

1. 'Jnf-.ir
rules. 35 1.3 .63 112 1.5 .67 145 -1.10 ·. 3

2. Explanation
of rules. 35 1.7 .9 112 1.8 .B 145 - .66 .7

3. Knows where
you are. 35 2.4 .9 112 2.4 .7 145 - .32 .8

4. Know who you

are with. 35 2.3 .8 112 2.3 .8 145 .90 .4

5. Concern
about
schoolwork. 35 2.3 .B 112 2.5 .7 145 .20 .8

6. Share thoughts
and feelings
with mother. 35 1.8 .8 112 1.8 .8 145 .98 .3

7. Identifi-
cation with
mother. 35 2.5 .5 112 1.6 .5 145 1.11, .2

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 139

attachment to father index. However, there was a practical impor-

tance of the reported differences between the two groups. In other

words, there was a weak effect on the behavior of those who were

nondelinquents. Their mean scores were 13.9 and 14.4, respectively.

Table 17 shows what happened when each item was tested to find

out if there was any significant differences between the two groups

regarding the father attachment index.

According to the data presented in the above table, attachment

to father as measured by the seven items had no significant effect on

the reported delinquency or nondelinquency of the two groups. However,

three of the items (2, 5, 6) had the same mean score for both delin-

quents and nondelinquents (1.8, 2.4, 1.7). The mean scores, however,

for the nondelinquents on items 3 and 4 were slightly larger than the

scores of delinquent group (2.4 vs. 2.2; 2.3 vs. 2.2)., but of no

significant effect. Finally, the mean scores of the delinquents were

slightly larger than the nondelinquents on items 1 and 7 (1.6 vs. 1.5;

2.4 vs. 2.2, respectively).

In sum, all items were supportive of the null hypothesis of no

significant differences between the mean score of the two groups.

In other words, attachment to father had no effect on the self-

reported behavior of the two groups.

Hypothesis lc

There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to school on each item

in the school attachment index.

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Table 17

T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

on FRther's Attachment Index (Item by Item)

Item #
Regarding Nondelinquents Delinquents
Father N Mean SD N Mean SD df t p

l. Unfair
rules. 35 1.5 . 74 112 1.5 . 70 145 .14 .9

2. Explanation
of rules. 35 1.8 .85 112 1.8 .77 145 .28 .8

3. Knows where
you are. 35 2.4 .77 112 2.2 .74 145 1.16 .24

4. Know who you

are with. 35 2.3 .76 112 2.2 . 79 145 1. 07 .3

5. Concern
about
schoolwork. 35 2.4 .77 112 2.4 .73 145 - .40 .7

6. Share thoughts
and feelings
with father. 35 1.7 . 70 112 1.7 .76 145 .01 .9

7. Identifi
-cation with
father. 35 2.2 .80 112 2.4 .75 145 -1.05 .3

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 141

The data presented in Table 15 indicated no significant differ-

ences between delinquents and nondelinquents mean score on the total

attachment to school index, 15.9 and 16.5, respectively. However,

each item in the seven-item index was tested in order to find out if

out if any of these items was significant.

According to Table 18, two items (1 and 2) were found to be

significant, .03 and .05, respectively. Thus, attitudes toward

school and perceived scholastic ability were effective with respect

to the self-reported behavior of nondelinquents and delinquents.

The mean score of nondelinquents were larger than the mean scores

of delinquents (2.7 vs. 2.5, 2.8 vs. 2.6 respectively). However,

attachment to school as measured by the other five items did not

indicate any significant differences between the two groups. Thus,

attachment to school as measured by grades, concern for teachers'

opinions, perception of teachers' treatment, and scopes of school

authority did not indicate any significant effect with respect to the

self-reported behaviors of the two groups.

In sum, the null hypothesis was accepted partially in the sense

that only two out of seven items supported the hypothesis, while five

of them did not give any significant differences. The reader might

be confused here about the reported result of this subhypothesis,

due to the fact that either we reject or accept the null hypothesis.

However, the purpose of testing these subhypotheses was to find out

the significance of each item. In other words, which item was more

effective than others on the reported-self behavior of the two groups.

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Table 18

T·test Comparison Between Nonde1inquents and Delinquents

on Attachment to School Index (Item by Item)

Nonde linquents Delinquents

Item# N Mean SD N Mean SD df t p

1. Like/dislike
school. 35 2.7 .52 112 2.5 .62 145 2.21 .03

2. Rate your·
self in
school. 35 2.8 '53 112 2.6 .64 145 1. 92 .05

3. Kinds of
grades. 35 2.4 .49 112 2.4 .49 145 .04 .9

4. Care what
teachers
think of
you. 35 2.05 .48 112 2.06 .47 145 . .06 .9

5. None of
school's
business. 35 2.02 .99 112 1.9 .88 145 .64 .5

6. Nervous
in school. 35 2.3 .85 112 2.1 .89 145 .76 .4

7. Teachers
pick on
me. 35 2.3 .82 112 2.4 .81 145 .92 .4

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 143

Hypothesis ld

There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to peers on each item in

the school attachment index. According to the data presented in

Table 15, the overall test of attachment to significant others,

no significant differences were found between the two groups,

delinquents and nondelinquents.

As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, a five-item index

was constructed to measure attachment to peers. According to Table

19, only one item, 3, was significant, while the other four items were

not significant at all. Thus, friends' contact with police was very

effective on the reported self-behavior of the two groups.

As reported in the above table, students' attitudes toward one's

friends, teachers' attitudes toward one's friends, identification and

respect for best friends did not have a significant effect on the

behavior of the subjects, while a number of friends picked up by the

police was significant at any alpha level. Thus, control theory

should reconsider the kinds of friends one has instead of assuming

the more attached the person is the less likely he will be delin-

quent. However, nondelinquents had a larger mean score on items 1,

3, and 4 and lower mean score on item 5, when compared to their

counterparts, and both groups had the same scores on item 2.

In sum, attachment to friends as measured by the five-item index,

was supportive of the null hypothesis partially, or with one excep-

tion, Item 3.

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Table 19

r-eese Comparison Between Nondelinquencs and Delinquents

on Attachment co Peers Index (Item by Item)

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Item # N Mean so N Mean SD df t p

l. Students
like your
friends. 35 2.4 .88 112 2.3 .88 145 078 .4

2 0 Teachers
like your
friends. 35 2.5 .78 112 2.5 .81 145 .08 .9

3 0 Friends
picked up
by police. 35 2.9 032 112 2.5 .53 145 3.66 .000

4. Identifi-
cation with
friends. 35 2.5 070 112 2.4 .81 145 .84 .4

50 Respect best
friend's
opinions. 35 2.3 . 98 112 2.5 .83 145 .25 .4

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Summary of First Hypothesis

The analysis of the data as presented in Tables 14 through 19

consisted of using the t-test to find out if there were any signifi-

cant differences between the delinquents and nondelinquents mean

scores of their reported self-behavior on the overall attachment in-

dex, and the individual items in the index.

The overall test of the first hypothesis was supportive, and

consequently, the null hypothesis was accepted, and the alternative

hypothesis was rejected. However, further testing was conducted on

index items (mother, father, school, and peers) to find out if there

were any significant differences between delinquents and non-

delinquents with respect to each item. The analysis revealed some

slight difference in the mean score of the two groups on most items

in the four indices. However, two items in the attachment to school

index were significant (items 1 and 2) and only item number 3 was

found to be significant on the attachment to peers index.

Hypothesis 2

There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to commitment to conventional activities.

As mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, commitment to

conventional activities was measured by a seven-item index. Accord-

ing to Hirschi's theory, delinquents are not aspirers. He argues that

aspiration to achieve conventional goals constrains delinquent beha-

vior. Thus, delinquents were expected to be significantly different

in their conventional commitment to education and occupation than

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 146

nondelinquents.

The overall test of the commitment index supported Hirschi's

stand that delinquents are significantly different from nondelin-

quents. According to Table 20, alpha was significant at .02.

Table 20

Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and Nondelinquents

With Respect to Commitment to Conventional Activities

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Mean SD N Mean SD N df t p

19.5 2.03 35 18.4 2.8 112 145 2.3 .02

The mean score of nondelinquents was larger than the mean score

of delinquents (19.5 vs. 18.4). Therefore, the null hypothesis was

not accepted and the alternative hypothesis is considered. Now we

turn to examine each item in the commitment index in order to see

which items were significant on the self-reported behavior of the two

groups.

According to the data presented in Table 21, items 2 and 6 were

significant at .002 and .005 level. With respect to item 2, impor-

tance of good grades, the mean score of nondelinquents was larger

than the mean score of delinquents (2.9 vs. 2.6), while for item 6,

school expectation, the mean score of nondelinquents was larger than

the mean score of delinquents (2.8 vs. 2.4). Thus, individuals who

were concerned about their grades and expected to finish from col-

lege scored lower on the delinquency index than those who were not

concerned.

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Table 21

T-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

With Respect to Commitment to Conventional Activities
(Item by Item)

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Item # N Mean so N Mean SD df t p

l. Kinds of
grades. 35 2.4 .50 112 2.4 .48 145 .04 .9

2. Importance
of good
grades. 35 2.9 .32 112 2.6 .56 145 3.21 .002

3. Importance
of good
grades. 35 2.6 .69 112 2.4 .83 145 1.45 .2

4. Job-money
is the only
reason. 35 2.9 1.4 112 3.07 1.4 145 .69 .5

5. Plan to
graduate
from high
school. 35 3.00 .16 112 2.9 .24 145 1. 52 .1

6. Schooling--
expect to
get. 35 2.8 .51 112 2.4 .92 145 2.8 .005

7. Schooling--
would like
to get. 35 3.00 .17 112 2.6 .76 145 2.8 .006

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 148

However, the rest of the items did not indicate any significant

differences between the two groups. In fact, for items 1 and 5 both

groups had almost the same mean score, which means that graduation

from high school and the kinds of grades had no significant effect

on the subjects behavior. It is interesting to notice that on item

number 7, although it was not significant, the mean score of non-

delinquents was larger than the mean score of delinquents. In sum,

two items (1 and 6) were found to be effective on the subjects'

behavior, while the rest of the items were not significant.

Summary of Second Hypothesis

The data presented in Tables 20 and 21, indicated that commit-

ment to conventional activities was significant in deterring delin-

quency. The null hypothesis was not accepted, and the alternative

hypothesis had to be accepted. The individual test of the items, as

presented in Table 21 indicated that importance of getting grades and

school expectations were significant, the other five items did not

indicate any significant differences between the two groups.

Hypothesis 3

There are no significant differences between delinquents and non-

delinquents with respect to involvement in conventional activities.

An eight-item index was constructed to measure involvement in

conventional activities. Hirschi (1969) argued that "analysis of

involvement in conventional activities parallels analysis of attitud-

inal commitments to conventional success goals. Such activities are

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 149

presumably in large part consequences of such commitment" (p. 191).

Table 22

Results of t-test Comparison Between Delinquents and Nondelinquents

With Respect to Involvement in Conventional Activities Index

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Mean SD N Mean SD N df t p

18.9 1.8 35 19.1 1.9 112 145 .9 .3

According to the data presented in Table 22, the overall test of

the null hypothesis indicated no significant differences between the

two groups (delinquents and nondelinquents). The mean score of

nondelinquents and delinquents was 18.9 vs. 19.1. Consequently, the

null hypothesis had to be accepted, and the alternative hypothesis was

rejected. We turn now to examine each item in the involvement to

conventional activities index.

The data presented in Table 23 indicated that no significant

differences were found between the two groups with respect to their mean

score. However, nondelinquents had larger mean scores on items 2, 3, 7

and 8, while both groups had the same mean score on items l, 4, 5 and 6.

Thus, involvement in conventional activities as measured by kinds of

grades, finish homework, time devoted to homework, attending religious

services, and working around the house had no significant effect on the

self-reported behavior of ~be two groups.

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 150

Table 23

Results of t-test Comparison Bet~een Delinquents and Nondelinquents

With Respect to Involvement in Conventional Activities (Item by Item)

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Item ~> N Mean SD N Mean SD df p

1. Kinds of
grades. 35 2.4 .so 112 2.4 .48 145 .04 .9

2. Finish
homework. 35 2.4 . 54 112 2.3 .54 145 .81 .4

3. Teachers
check your
homework. 35 2.1 .47 112 2.04 .36 145 .92 .4

4. Time
devoted to
homework. 35 2.5 .60 112 2.5 .so 144 .64 .5

5. Suspension
from
school. 35 2.7 .61 112 2. 71 .57 145 .25 .81

6. Going to
religious
services. 35 2.9 .35 112 2.9 .24 145 -1.5 .13

7. Working
with mother
in the
home. 35 1.9 .80 112 2.14 .73 145 -1.77 .07

8. Working
with father
in the
home. 35 1.9 .76 112 2. 09 .74 145 -1.08 .3

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 151

Summary of Third Hypothesis

The data presented in Tables 22 and 23 indicated no significant

differences between delinquents and nondelinquents. Therefore, the

null hypothesis was accepted and the alternative hypothesis had to be

rejected. Furthermore, the individual test of the items did not

indicate any significant differences between the two groups. It was

expected that juveniles, who were invo~ved in conventional activities,

such as getting good grades, doing their homework, mosque-goers, and

helping their families around the house, had less of a chance to engage

in delinquent behavior. Hirschi suggested that involvement in conven-

tional activities is the consequence of commitment to educational

and occupational goals. However, the above findings suggested that

Hirschi's conception of involvement should be reconsidered as some

criminologists have already noted (Krohn & Massey, 1980).

Hypothesis 4

There are no significapt differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to belief in the conventional order.

Hirschi (1969, p. 203) argues that "belief in the moral validity

of the law is consistently related co the measures of attachment and

commitment discussed earlier: the child with little intimate commun-

ication with his parents, the child who does not like school, the

child who is unconcerned about the opinions of teachers, the child

who has little respect for the police, the child who feels little de-

sire for success in conventional terms, is unlikely to feel that the

demands of law are binding on his conduct."

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 152

The overall test of the null hypothesis of no significant dif-

fe~ences between delinquents and nondelinquents with respect to be-

lief in the conventional order was accepted. The mean scores of de-

linquents vs. nondelinquents were 15.4 vs. 15.8, respectively.

Table 24

Results of t-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

With Respect to Belief in the Conventional Order

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Mean SD N Mean SD N df t p

15.8 2.20 35 15.4 2.4 112 145 .94 .3

Table 24 reveals toe differences to be insignificant (p = .3) when

the index mean scores were compared. Consequently, the alternative

hypothesis of significant differences between the two groups was

rejected.

Each item in the belief index was examined in order to see

if there were any significant differences between the mean scores of

delinquents and nondelinquents with respect to their self-reported

behavior.

According to the data in Table 25, none of the belief items were

found to be statistically significant at the .05 alpha level. Also,

none of the mean scores of the two groups, delinquents and

nondelinquents were found to be identical. In items l, 3, 5, 6, 7

and 8 the mean scores of nondelinquents were slightly larger than the

mean scores of delinquents.

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 153

Table 25

Results of t-test Comparison Between Nondelinquents and Delinquents

With Respect to Belief in the Conventional Order (Item by Item)

Nondelinquents Delinquents
Item # N Mean SD N Mean SD df t p

1. Victim of
theft is
equally re-
sponsible. 35 1.8 .70 112 1.5 .78 145 .02 . 90

2. Perception of
equitability
of police
treatment. 35 1.5 .61 112 1. 66 .75 145 .84 .40

3. Attitudes
toward
the law. 35 2.7 .62 112 2.6 .73 145 1.17 .24

4. Denial of
responsi·
bility. 35 1.71 .95 112 1.8 .93 144 - .35 .73

5. Respect for
the Tafilah
Police. 35 2.6 .73 112 2.4 .82 145 1. 74 .08

6. Perception of
equitability
of government
treatment. 35 1.9 .83 112 1.8 .83 145 .34 .73

7. Denial of
the victim. 35 2.5 .81 112 2.4 .82 145 .41 .67

8. Helplessness
to avoid
trouble. 35 1. 37 .59 112 2.32 .50 145 .49 .62

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 154

Summary of Fourth Hypothesis

The final null hypothesis of no significant differences between

the mean score of the two groups was accepted. An examination of the

belief element items, one-by-one, showed none to be significant.

Contrary to Hirschi's theory, the hypothesis of no significant

differences was accepted and consequently, the alternative hypothe-

sis of significant differences between the two groups was rejected.

The analysis of the data as presented in Tables 14 through 25 dealt

with the four research hypotheses and four research subhypotheses

proposed in this research. These research hypotheses and subhypotheses

are:

1. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachme~t to significant others (mother,

father, school and peers).

la. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to mother in the total index,

and in each item in the index.

lb. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to father in the total index,

and in each item in the index.

lc. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to school on the total index,

and on each item in the index.

ld. There are no significant differences between delinquents and

nondelinquents with respect to attachment to peers on the total index

and on each item in the index.

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 155

2. There are no significant differences between delinquents

and nondelinquents with respect to commitment to the conventional

activities.

3. There are no significant differences between delinquents

and nondelinquents with respect to involvement in the conventional

activities.

4. There are no significant differences between delinquents

and nondelinquents with respect to belief in the conventional order.

Hypotheses la, lb, lc and ld stress that delinquents are not

significantly attached to their significant others (mother, father,

school, and peers) as is true for nondelinquents. Delinquents were

not found to be significantly different from nondelinquents in their

attachment to significant others. The null hypothesis was accepted

and the alternative hypothesis was retained.

Hypothesis 2 stresses that delinquents are not significantly

different from nondelinquents in their commitment to the conven-

tional activities. Delinquents were found to be significantly dif-

ferent from nondelinquents in their commitment to the conventional

activities. The null hypothesis was not accepted, and the alterna-

tive hypothesis had to be accepted.

Hypothesis 3 stresses that delinquents are not significantly

different from nondelinquents in their involvement in conventional

activities. The null hypothesis was accepted, and the alternative

hypothesis was retained.

Hypothesis 4 stresses that delinquents are not significantly

different from nondelinquents in their belief in the conventional

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 156

order. The null hypothesis was accepted, and the alternative hypo-

thesis was retained.

In analyzing the four major hypotheses and the four subhypo-

theses, only commitment to conventional activities was found to be

significant, the rest of the hypotheses and subhypotheses were not

supportive of Hirschi's theoretical model. In the next section, a

comparison between this dissertation's findings and Hirschi's find-

ings will shed some m0re light on Hirschi's theory and its utility

and applicability in another cultural setting, the Jordanian society.

Sun~ary of the Chapter

In Chapter IV, three aspects were addressed: (1) profile of the

sample, (2) a comparison of Hirschi's cause of delinquency and (3)

the testing of the research hypothesis was conducted.

The data revealed that 147 students completed a usable ques-

tionnaire. The subjects were unevenly distributed in the seven

schools. Seventy-eight percent of the students were 16 and 17 years

old. The parents of the students were mainly unskilled laborers in

which 37.4% of the fathers had no formal education and 91.2% of the

mothers had no formal education with the majority of them (94.6%)

housewives.

The subjects in general came from unbroken homes, 98% of the

subjects lived with their natural fathers, and 91.8% reported living

with their natural mothers. Furthermore, 95.9% of the subjects re-

ported having more than one brother and 96.6% reported having more

than one sister. In terms of religiosity, 93% reported going to the

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 157

Mosque.

In describing their interest in school, well over half of the

sample reported liking school, and 72.1% planned to finish four

years of college.

From the sample profile we can assume that the subjects of this

study are attached to their parents, committed to education, and

involved in conventional activities, as well as having faith in pur-

suing education. However, over two-thirds of them reported being

involved in various activities.

The overall comparison between the results of this study and

Hirschi's findings revealed that with respect to attachment to

significant others, only attachment to father was consistent with

Hirschi's findings. Commitment to conventional activities was

inconsistent with Hirschi's findings, but commitment or involvement

in adult activities such as drinking and dating were consistent with

the theory. Smoking was another exception.

With respect to the involvement element, both involvement in

conventional and nonconventional activities were found to be

inconsistent with the theory. Finally, concerning the belief items,

five out of the seven items were inconsistent with Hirschi's findings;

only two were consistent.

Testing of the four major hypotheses revealed that only commit-

ment to conventional activities was found significant at .02 level.

At the same time, attachment to significant others, involvement in

conventional activities and belief were not significant at the .OS

alpha level. It clearly shows through the t-test that attachment to

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 158

significant others, involvement in conventional activities, and be-

lief in the conventional order had no effect on the mean scores of

delinquents or nondelinquents in Jordan.

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 CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This chapter presents a summary of this research, its findings

as they relate to a replication of Hirschi's (1969) co<•trol theory in

the Jordanian society, and the results of the research hypotheses

which were examined. Additionally, the limitations of this research

and recommendations for future research will be discussed.

The purpose of this research was to apply Hirschi's (1969) con-

trol theory in a cultural setting dissimilar to the one found in the

United States. Hirschi's theory was selected f~r replication in Jor-

dan for several different reasons. First, Hirschi's theory is quan-

tifiable which made it possible to construct an instrument to measure

objectively the core bonding elements of social control. Second,

according to Shoemaker (1984), control theory has enjoyed a remarkable

success record, as research adopting this theoretical model has been

able to explain an average of 40% of the delinquency examined. Third,

it was believed that the extended family in Jordan still plays a sig-

nificant role in the socialization process as well as in virtually all

other areas of life. Therefore, attachment to family, peers, and

schools was expected to be significant in deterring delinquent beha-

vior. Consequently, Hirschi's theory was seen as a very appropriate

model for studying deviant behavior among Jordanian adolescents.

Fourth, it was the writer's sincere belief that in traditional,

conservative societies, people sharing common values, attitudes and

159

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 160

beliefs would be reflected in the responses of a sample of Jordanian

youth. Fifth, whether in small towns or villages, the assumption

was made that Jordanian adolescents are strongly attached, committed

to conventional activities, involved in conventional lives, and

share a strong belief in the society and its social order.

Summary

In Chapter I, a brief introduction was given about the country,

its juvenile delinquency problems, the judicial system, criminal law

as applied to juveniles, theoretical formulation, and the rationale

for the study with the statement of the problem.

Chapter II focused on the control theories in general, selected

replications of control theory and other criminological models, and

the hypotheses of the research. Control theories were divided into

two major models. First, the rationality model was presented which

included the following theories: social disorganization theory,

subcultural theories, social learning theories, and exchange theories

(especially Homans, 1961). Second, the social solidarity model

was presented which included the following theories: (a) containment

theory, (b) bonding theory, and (c) role relationship theory.

The literature review provided a remarkable record of success for

Hirschi's theory not only in terms of understanding juvenile delin-

quency in the United States, but also its international reputation.

The theory has been replicated in Canada (Caplan & Leblanc, 1985;

Linden & Currie, 1977; Linden & Fillmore, 1981). Chuen (1988) used

Hirschi's theory in Taiwan and his partial replication was consistent

---- ----------------------------------------
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 161

~,.i th the theory.

Chapter III reported on the setting, the sample, the

construction of the research instrument used in this study, data

collection procedures, measurement problems, description of the

variables, and data analysis procedures. The subjects in this study

were male eleventh graders in seven schools in the Tafielah Governate.

The total sample was composed of 147 male subjects. The subjects

answered a self-reported survey consisting of 107 questions. The

items in the questionnaire dealt with attitudes, beliefs, values,

and experiences of the subjects, among others.

Five different indices were constructed to test the hypotheses

of the research. The dependent variable consisted of a six-item in-

dex, and it was dichotomized into delinquent or nondelinquent sub-

headings. The index of "Attachment to father" was constructed from

seven items (7-21 total possible scores from the lowest to the high-

est); "Attachment to mother" was treated in the same fashion as the

father's index. "Attachment to peers" was constructed from five

items (5-15 total possible scores, from lowest to highest). "Attach-

ment to school" was constructed from seven items (ranging from 7-21

total possible scores from the lowest to the highest). Therefore,

the "Attachment to significant others" item ranged from 26-78 total

possible scores.

The "Commitment to conventional activities" index was measured

by seven items (ranging from 7-21 total possible scores). The

"involvement in conventional activities" index was measured by eight

items (ranging from 8-24 total possible scores). Finally the

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 162

"Belief" index was constructed from eight items (ranging from 8-24

total possible scores). Each index was empirically tested by using

the Cronbach alpha. The level of significance was determined at

the . OS level.

Discussion of Findings

The main questions to be answered by the data are: Is Hirschi's

theoretical model an appropriate one for understanding deviancy,

i.e., delinquency, among adolescents in Jordanian society? Do the

data support the research hypotheses? Are Jordanian adolescents

attached to their significant others, committed to conventional

activities, involved in conventional activities, and share a strong

belief in the society's laws and values?

Regarding the above questions, the findings from the Jordanian

sample appear to suggest that the youth are indeed attached to con-

ventional things, committed to conventional things, involved in con-

ventional things, as well as believe in conventional things. Theo-

retically, one would expect little or no delinquency involvement

among these young Jordanians. This assertion is based on the fact

that this study found that 52.4% of the subjects said they wanted

to be like their fathers in every 111ay or in most ways; 58% liked

their schools; 70.1% rated themselves above average compared to other

students; 57.2% cared a lot about what their teachers think of them,

77.6% claimed to have never cheated on an exam, 57.8% would like to

be like their friends in every way, 55.8% said they wanted to be

like their mothers in some ways; 93% go to religious services; 90.5%

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 163

planned to graduate from high school; 72.1% expected to finish a

four-year college, 82.3% said they would like to graduate from a

two-year college, 71.4% said that they believe in law and order, that

people who break the law should be punished, and almost 60% said that

going to the Juvenile Court would bother them. Although these

descriptive statistics appear to suggest that control theory, as

formulated by Hirschi, is appropriate for understandfng delinquency

and nondelinquency in Jordanian society, they do not provide the

total picture of the theory's appropriateness or adequacy as revealed

in the t-test results.

While the figures are consistent with Hirschi's model of social

control, methods used to test the four major hypotheses and the sub-

sequent set of four subhypotheses cast some doubt on the utility of

Hirschi's theory as the theory of best fit for explaining deviancy

in Jordan.

With one exception, the t-test conducted to test the four major

hypotheses and the subsequent set of four subhypotheses did not sup-

port Hirschi's theory. The exception was commitment to conventional

activities. In this instance, a significant difference was found

between the delinquent and nondelinquent subjects.

The first hypothesis stated that "There are no significant

differences between delinquents and nondelinquents with respect to

attachment to significant others." With regard to the first hypothe-

sis, attachment to significant others, the mean scores of the non-

delinquents were not significantly different from the mean score of

the delinquents, 57.6 vs. 56.7 respectively. Thus, attachment to

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 164

significant others had no significant effect on the reported beha-

vior of the subjects. Based on the descriptive figures discussed

earlier, it was expected that those subjects who reported liking

school, wishing to be like their mothers, fathers, and friends in

every way or in most ways, would not engage themselves in delinquent

activities. However, further test of the individual indices (father,

mother, school, peers) did not support the theory. The mean score

of nondelinquents and delinquents were as follows; 13.9 vs. 14.4;

14.6 vs. 14.3; 16.5 vs. 15.9; and 12.5 vs. 12.1 respectively. While

nondelinquents had slightly higher mean scores than delinquents on

all attachment indices, no significant differences were found, hence,

control theory was not supported. Consequently, the null hypothesis

was accepted.

The individual tests of both attachment to mother and attachment

to father did not support the theory. None of the individual index

items in the two indices was found to be significant. However, two

items were found to be significant in the attachment to school index

while only one item was found to be significant in the attachment to

peers index.

The second hypothesis stated that "There are no significant

differences between delinquents and nondelinquents with respect to

commitment to conventional activities." With regards to this hypo-

thesis, commitment to conventional activities, the mean scores of

nondelinquents and delinquents were 19.5 vs. 18.5, respectively.

The nondelinquents had larger mean scores than their delinquent

counterparts which resulted in a significant group difference.

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 165

Consequently, commitment to conventional activities affected the

self-reported behavior oi the two groups. The null hypothesis was

rejected(~= .03). The test of the individual items in the commit-

ment index showed that "importance of good grades" and "schooling one

expects to complete" (aspiration) were the two significant items.

The third hypothesis stated that, "There are no significant

differences between delinquents and nondelinquents with respect to

involvement in conventional activities." Concerning this hypo-

thesis, involvement in conventional activities, the mean score of

nondelinquents and the mean score of delinquents were 18.9 and

19.1, respectively. No significant differences were found. Conse-

quently, the null hypothesis was accepted. Thus, involvement in

conventional activities had no effect on the self-reported behavior

of the subjects. Furthermore, none of the items comprising this

index was significant.

The fourth hypothesis stated that "There are no significant

differences between delinquents and nondelinquents with respect to

belief in the conventional order." The mean scores of nondelinquents

and delinquents were 15.8 and 15.4, respectively. According to the

t-test, no significant difference was found between the two groups.

Therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. The individual test of

the items in the belief index did not support the theory as none of

the items were found to be statistically significant.

In sum, with one exception, the t-test conducted to test the

four major hypotheses and the subsequent set of the four subhypo-

theses did not support Hirschi's theory. However, the hypothesis

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 166

regarding commitment to conventional activities was significant,

thus supporting one aspect of Hirschi's theory. These and other

findings (see percentages) suggest that, on the one hand, Jordanian

youth are bonded to their society (i.e., parents, schools, peers,

etc.) while, on the other hand, they were also involved in various

delinquent activities (see hypotheses). This pattern of behavior

is contrary to the central thesis of Hirschi's theory.

Limitations of This Study

The findings of this study were limited by the very nature of

the sample. Only 147 eleventh-grade students were asked to partici-

pate in the study. Students in other grades were not part of the

study, therefore, the findings cannot be generalized beyond the

eleventh-grade level. Moreover, it was initially thought that the

sample size of the eleventh-graders would have been much larger given

the population size of the Governate. However, the investigators

later learned the class size for eleventh-graders was very small

throughout the Governate in Jordan, as there were only 147 students in

all of the seven schools selected for this investigation.

Another limitation stemmed from employing a theory devised .n

one society to explain delinquent behavior in a different culture.

As Midgley (1977) correctly pointed out, "unless there is clear-cut

evidence of concrete beliefs and values being either indigenous to a

particular setting or having been diffused into it, then the ready

application of concepts derived from a distant source is fraught with

difficulty" (p. 246). Since Hirschi's theory reflects the culture in

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 167

which it originates, (i.e., the United States in particular and Canada

in general), its relevance to a dissimilar culture is questionable.

Conclusion

Delinquency and criminal behavior have been of concern to

sociologists, and others who attempted to answer the question of why

people commit or don't commit crimes. Theories have been proposed,

accepted and rejected, each in its own time and under its own unique

circumstances. Most of these theories have originated and been tested

in the industrial world which make their applicability to Third World

countries questionable.

The theory of social control, as advanced by Hirschi, suggests

that individuals are prevented from engaging in delinquency by four

social bonds: (1) attachment to significant others; (2) commitment to

conventional activities; (3) involvement in conventional activities; and

(4) belief in the central value system of the society. When these

social bonds are weak, the individual is free to engage in delinquency.

Hirschi's theory does not appear to be particularly appropriate when

explaining juvenile delinquency in Jordan.

In comparing Hirschi's study with this study, the data indicated

that the four social bonds were not effective in deterring delin-

quency; "commitment to conventional activities" was the only exception.

Therefore, based on the data used in this research, as well as know-

ledge of the societal conditions in Jordan, the conclusion is that

Hirschi's theory does not appear to be the most suitable one to explain

deviancy, i.e., delinquency, in the Jordanian society. This assertion

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 168

is offered as a Lentative conclusion because of the limitations of

this study.

Future Study

It seems that most of the theories developed by Americans and

Europeans appear to be applicable not only to these countries in

general, but are even more specific to certain areas within those

countries. Unless theories can withstand testing cross-culturally,

it is doubtful that there is any value in basing governmental poli-

cies or programs on them.

The data presented in this study were sufficient to shed doubt

on the appropriateness of Hirschi's theory for this population.

Researchers wishing to replicate his theory should seek to understand

how bonds (both inner and outer) have been created and strengthened.

For example, why does one village school produce large numbers of

boys who go on to college, while another in the same area of the vil-

lage produces only a few? What are the reasons that one poor family

from a particular village fnnctions well and inspires commitment from

its children, while the family next door does not?

Answers to these and other questions would go a long way toward

a better understanding of how bonds are created, sustained, and

strengthened. Moreover, researchers should reconceptualize Hirschi's

theory with commitment and involvement formulated as one construct.

Furthermore, the items to measure these concepts should be pretested

thoroughly. Random samples must be taken and adequate control groups

must be established to see what factors are important in explaining

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 169

delinquency and crime in Jordan.

Much research is needed in developing broader theories of juve-

nile delinquency, and Jordan is particularly appropriate for this

type of investigation because of its homogeneous population and its

urban development.

In conclusion, this dissertation should serve as a prelude to

more comprehensive and significant research in the cross-cultural

applications of theories of juvenile delinquency. Countries like

Jordan could serve as excellent sites on which to test the various

theoretical paradigms, and, until they can withstand a cross-cultural

analysis, it is questionable if they can be particularly helpful in

expanding our knowledge in the area of juvenile delinquency.

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 Appendix A

Research Instruments

170

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 171

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

This study aims to find ways to make life better for the young

people in the Tafielah Governate and its localities. In order to plan

useful programs we need to know a great deal about your opinions, plans,

experience, and problems.

Nobody will know your answers at the school. At the university we

will count how many students answer questions each way. Your names are

not required for this research to conceal your identity.

Dear Student:

The questionnaire is quite long, so please work as rapidly as

possible. Answer the questions frankly and honestly, even if you think

there are people who disagree with you. Also, all the questions should

be answered on a separate sheet where you can write your answers.

Please if you can't read or understand a question, raise your hand and

the researcher will answer anything you need.

Please answer the questions the way you feel. It is important for

us to know what students think. When you have finished these quc3tions,

raise your hand and the researcher will take care of it.

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 PLEASE NOTE:

Copyrighted materials in this document have not been filmed

at the request of the author. They are available for consultation,
however, in the author's university library.

These consist of pages:

Appendix A 172-186

Reliability Analysis 187-190

U·M·I

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 191

Correlation Matrix of Each Index

I. Attachment to father Index.

1. Would you like to be like father.

2. Father makes unfair rules.

3. Father explains the rules.

4. Father knows where you are.

5. Father knows who you are with.

6. Father's concern about your school work.

7. Do you share your feelings with father.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 1.000

2 - .12 1.000

3 -.05 .35 1.000

4 .18 .23 .24 1.000

5 .25 .12 .22 .57 1.000

6 .35 .09 .26 .28 .30 1.000

7 .22 -.01 .12 .25 .28 .26 1.000

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 192

II. Attachment to mother Index.

1. Would you like to be like mother.

2. Mother makes unfair rules.

3. Mother explains the rules.

4. Mother knows where you are.

5. Mother knows who you are with.

6. Mother's concern about your school work.

7. Do you share your feelings with mother.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 1.000

2 .08 1.000

3 .09 .26 1.000

4 -.17 .09 .15 1.000

5 -.13 .04 .23 .44 1.000

6 -.04 .05 .09 .18 .29 1.000

7 -.14 .07 .08 .09 .21 .19 1.000

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 193

III. Attachment to peers Index.

1. Students like your friends.

2. Teachers like your friends.

3. Friends picked up by police.

4. Would you like to be like your best friends.

5. Respect best friend's opinion.

1 2 3 4 5

1 1.000

2 .29 1.000

3 .17 .14 1.000

4 .21 .13 .21 1.000

5 -. 07 - .11 - .17 -.34 1.000

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 194

IV. Attachment to school Index.

1. Do you like school.

2. Rate yourself in school.

~. Kinds of grades.

4. Teachers care about you.

5. None of school's business.

6. Teachers pick on me.

7. Nervous in school.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 1.000

2 .13 1.000

3 .03 .29 1.000

4 .11 -.06 -.02 1.000

5 .04 .15 -. 09 -.18 1.000

6 .20 .32 .27 .15 .09 1.000

7 .24 .19 .19 .03 .28 .61 1.000

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 195

V. Commitment Index.

1. Kinds of grades.

2. Importance of getting good grades.

3. Importance of grades for job.

4. The only reason to have a job is money.

5. Planning to graduate from high school.

6. Schooling expect to get.

7. Schooling would like to get.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 1.000

2 .12 1.000

3 .03 .29 1.000

4 .11 -.06 -. 02 1.000

5 .04 .15 .09 - .18 1.000

6 .20 .32 . 27 .15 .08 1.000

7 .24 .18 .19 .03 .27 .62 1.000

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 196

VI. Involvement Index.

1. Kinds of grades.

2. Do you finish your homework.

3. Do teachers check your homework.

4. Time devoted to homework.

5. Suspension from school.

6. Mosque.

7. Do you work with your mother in the house.

8. Do you work with your father in the house.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 1.000

2 .03 1.000

3 -.08 .20 1.000

4 .09 .16 .13 1.000

5 .07 .18 - 0 01 -.04 1.000

6 .17 .12 .18 .04 .07 1.000

7 -.08 .OS .12 .05 .02 - 0 07 1.000

8 -. 01 - 0 01 .13 .05 .02 - .07 .65 1.000

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 197

VII. Belief Index.

1. Leaves the keys.

2. Policemeen try to give all kids a break.

3. Alright to get around the law.

4. Criminals should not be blamed.

5. Respect for the police.

6. Government does not care.

7. Suckers deserve to be taken advantage of.

8. Stay out of trouble.

l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 1.000

2 .21 1.000

3 -.03 -.02 1.000

4 -. 09 -.08 .05 1.000

5 -.11 .02 .16 -.15 1.000

6 -.09 -.05 -. 06 -.04 .15 1.000

7 -.03 .20 .09 -.03 .10 .13 1.000

8 -. 09 .05 -. 09 .04 .02 -. 03 - .12 1.000

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 198

VIII. Delinquency Index.

1. Theft of 3 JD.

2. Theft of 3-30 JD

3. Theft of more than 30 JD.

4. Fights.

5. Written on school restroom walls.

6. Damaged a street sign.

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 1.000

2 .68 1.000

3 .73 .65 1.000

4 .22 .08 .06 1.000

5 .26 .24 .26 .37 1.000

6 .22 .15 .13 .15 .39 1.000

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 199

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 PLEASE NOTE:

Copyrighted materials in this document have not been filmed

at the request of the author. They are available for consultation,
however, in the author's university library.

These consist of pages:

Instruments

200-213

U·M-1

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