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Development of Basic Norm Violation - Neutralization and Self-Concept Within a Male Cohort

NCJ Number
88806
Journal
Criminology Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1983) Pages: 75-94
Author(s)
R A Ball
Date Published
1983
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This research focuses upon a sample of 398 white, working-class boys who were examined at the sixth-grade level, with essentially the same cohort, now comprising a sample of 391 boys, reexamined as ninth graders.
Abstract
Findings show sharp increases in basic norm violation over the three-year period. Personal neutralization scores were significantly lower, but this variable appears to have become more important in explaining violations among the ninth graders. Although attributed neutralization appears as a more important factor among the boys as sixth graders, personal neutralization has assumed dominance by the ninth grade. Self-concept, which can account for some of these relationships, shows the most pronounced relationships to violation at either grade level. The data suggest the need for closer attention to developmental patterns and the likelihood that attitudinal factors vary considerably in their importance during various phases of adolescence. (Publisher abstract)

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