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Integrated Social Control Model and Ethnicity: The Case of Puerto Ricans American Delinquency

NCJ Number
133921
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 464-479
Author(s)
O Rodriguez; D Weisburd
Date Published
1991
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The Integrated Social Control (ISC) model of delinquency, based on an integration of social control, social learning, and strain theories, was applied to a representative sample of 1,077 inner-city Puerto-Rican adolescent males living in the South Bronx. The National Youth Survey provided the comparison sample of primarily white mainstream American adolescents.
Abstract
The findings indicated that peer involvement and prior delinquency, while powerful predictors of Puerto Rican delinquency, were not as significant as family bonding; peer bonding had a weaker effect on delinquency for Puerto Rican youth than for the white control group. Other findings were not consistent with the expectations of prior ethnicity inner-city research. The data did not support the prediction that school involvement and school normlessness would have a direct effect on delinquency. Despite the importance of family bonding, family normlessness was not related to delinquency. 2 tables, 2 figures, 3 notes, and 25 references