School and Community Risk Factors

Few studies have addressed risk factors that emerge from young children’s socialization in schools and communities. The Study Group focused on a social development model integrating insights from current theories that consider the influence of community and schools on child delinquents (Catalano and Hawkins, 1996; Farrington and Hawkins, 1991; Hawkins and Weis, 1985). The model proposes that socialization involves the same processes in producing either prosocial or antisocial behaviors. These processes include the following:

• Children's opportunity for involvement in activities and interactions with others.

• Children's degree of involvement and interaction with others.

• Children's ability (skills) to participate in these involvements and interactions.

• Reinforcements received from individuals for children's performance in involvements and interactions with others.

School Factors

The Study Group found that the failure to bond to school during childhood can lead to delinquency. In addition, as stated above, early neurological deficiencies, when combined with the failure of family, school, and community to provide adequate socialization, lead to early-onset offending that persists throughout life. A specific school risk factor for delinquency is poor academic performance. A meta-analysis of more than 100 studies examined the relationship between poor academic performance and delinquency and found that poor academic performance is related to the prevalence, onset, frequency, and seriousness of delinquency (Maguin and Loeber, 1996). In young children ages 8 to 11, academic performance has been related to serious later delinquency (Loeber et al., 1998). Even when individual intelligence and attention problems are taken into account, academic performance remains a predictor of delinquency.

Children with weak bonds (low commitment) to school, low educational aspirations, and poor motivation are also at risk for general offending and for child delinquency (e.g., Hawkins et al., 1998; Le Blanc, Coté, and Loeber, 1991). It is likely that children who perform poorly on academic tasks will fail to develop strong bonds to school and will have lower expectations of success. As a result, academic achievement and school bonding are, in many ways, interdependent. For example, one study found that boys who engage in delinquency are less committed to school and are also more likely to have “shorter plans” for their schooling. These boys described themselves as bad students (Le Blanc et al., 1991).

Development of Early Offending Behavior and Peer Influences Source: J.D. Coie and S. Miller-Johnson. 2001. Peer factors and interventions. In Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Successful Interventions, edited by R. Loeber and D.P. Farrington. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., pp. 191–209.

Community Factors

Numerous risk factors for young children’s offending lie within the community domain. For example, findings from studies of childhood exposure to family poverty have been very consistent. Children raised in poor, disadvantaged families are at greater risk for offending than children raised in relatively affluent families (e.g., Farrington, 1989, 1991, 1998). Disadvantages at the neighborhood level are also of primary importance in the development of antisocial behaviors (Catalano and Hawkins, 1996). Disorganized neighborhoods with few controls may have weak social control networks that allow criminal activity to go unmonitored and even unnoticed (e.g., Elliott et al., 1996; Sampson and Lauritsen, 1994). In terms of violent crimes, one study concluded that social disorganization and concentrated poverty within the community lead to residents’ decreased willingness to intervene when children are engaging in antisocial/ unlawful acts, further contributing to a greater likelihood of violence within neighborhoods (Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls, 1997).

Certain residential areas may support greater opportunities for antisocial learning. For example, disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods are often characterized by a predominance of delinquent peer groups and gangs that draw young people into crime (Sutherland and Cressey, 1970). Juveniles living within high-crime neighborhoods are often exposed to norms favorable to crime and are at high risk for offending (Developmental Research and Programs, 1996). In addition, having ready access to weapons generally increases the risk for violence (Brewer et al., 1995).

Who’s in Control at School? Schools play an important role in the socialization of children and the development of antisocial behavior. When schools are poorly organized and operated, children are less likely to value their education and do well on academic tasks and more likely to experience peer influences that promote delinquency and opportunities for antisocial behavior (Gottfredson, 2001). For example, schools with fewer teacher resources and large enrollments of students have higher levels of teacher victimization by pupils. Teacher victimization is also higher in schools with lower cooperation between teachers and administrators and with poor rule enforcement. Furthermore, poor rule enforcement within schools has been associated with higher levels of student victimization. Disciplinary problems are also more common in schools with less satisfied teachers (Ostroff, 1992). Although much more research is needed on the relationship between school organization and processes and children’s delinquency, available evidence suggests that, in addition to those already noted, several other specific school characteristics may be linked to antisocial behaviors of students, including poor student-teacher relations, norms and values supporting antisocial behaviors, and poorly defined rules and expectations for appropriate conduct.

Risk and Protective Factors of Child Delinquency	Child Delinquency Bulletin • April 2003