THE STUDY CONCERNS VAN VECHTEN'S TOLERATION QUOTIENT, WHICH HOLDS THAT THE EXTENT TO WHICH SOME CLASS OF EVENTS CONSTITUTES A SOCIAL PROBLEM FOR A GIVEN COMMUNITY EQUALS THE VOLUME OF SUCH EVENTS IN THE COMMUNITY DIVIDED BY THE COMMUNITY'S TOLERANCE FOR THE EVENTS. THIS QUOTIENT IS TESTED BY COMPARING, BOTH WITHIN AND ACROSS COMMUNITIES, ATTITUDES TOWARD AND VOLUME OF 12 DIFFERENT JUVENILE OFFENSES. THREE INDICATORS OF VOLUME---SELF-REPORTS OF DELINQUENCY BY SAMPLES OF JUVENILES, NUMBER OF JUVENILES ARRESTED, AND NUMBER OF JUVENILES REFERRED TO COURT--ARE CONSIDERED. SURVEYS OF SAMPLES OF ADULTS PROVIDED DATA FOR THREE MEASURES OF TOLERANCE/INTOLERANCE: INTENSITY OF PUBLIC DISAPPROVAL (EXPRESSED AS THE MAGNITUDE OF RESPONDENTS' ABHORRENCE OF JUVENILE OFFENSES), SEVERITY OF PUBLIC DISAPPROVAL (EXPRESSED AS RESPONDENTS' CHOICES OF APPROPRIATE OFFICIAL RESPONSES TO DELINQUENCY), AND OBJECTIVE CERTAINTY OF OFFICIAL RESPONSE TO DELINQUENCY (MEASURED AS THE RELATION BETWEEN SELF-REPORT AND OFFICIAL DATA ON DELINQUENCY RATES). WITH TWO IMPORTANT QUALIFICATIONS, THE FINDINGS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE VIEW THAT A COMMUNITY'S DELINQUENCY RATE IS A DIRECT FUNCTION OF ITS TOLERANCE FOR DELINQUENCY. THE QUALIFICATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS: (1) TOLERANCE MUST BE EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF THE SEVERITY OF PUBLIC RESPONSE TO DELINQUENCE, AND (2) VOLUME MUST BE BASED ON SELF-REPORT DATA. IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS FOR DETERRENCE AND LABELING THEORIES ARE DISCUSSED. SUPPORTING DATA AND A LIST OF REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (LKM)