FROM A REVIEW OF LITERATURE, IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT LOW SELF-ESTEEM GENERATED FROM INTERACTION WITH NORMATIVE REFERENCE GROUPS STIMULATES JUVENILES TO SEEK APPROVAL IN SUBCULTURAL DELINQUENT GROUPS WHOSE STANDARDS FOR ACCEPTANCE CONFLICT WITH THOSE OF SCHOOL AND FAMILY AUTHORITY FIGURES. FURTHER, IT IS THEORIZED THAT NORMATIVE SOCIETY'S REACTION TO DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR WILL TEND TO PRODUCE LOW SELF-ESTEEM IN DELINQUENTS. THIS STUDY COMPARES THE DEGREES TO WHICH SELF-ESTEEM INFLUENCES DELINQUENCY AND DELINQUENCY AFFECTS SELF-ESTEEM. DATA FOR THE ANALYSIS WERE DRAWN FROM 'YOUTH IN TRANSITION,' A STUDY CONDUCTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN IN 1972 BY JERALD BACHMAN AND ASSOCIATES. WAVE I OF THE STUDY, CONDUCTED IN THE FALL OF 1966, USED A PROBABILITY SAMPLE OF 2,213 10TH-GRADE BOYS IN 87 HIGH SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY; 1,886 OF THESE SUBJECTS PARTICIPATED IN A SECOND DATA COLLECTION PHASE (WAVE II) IN THE SPRING OF 1968. DATA USED IN THIS ANALYSIS ARE CONFINED TO THESE TWO WAVES. SELF-ESTEEM WAS MEASURED BY A 10-ITEM SCORE BASED ON TWO PREVIOUS STUDIES (ROSENBERG, 1965 AND COBB ET AL., 1966). INTERVIEWS WITH SUBJECTS ALSO INCLUDED INQUIRIES INTO A WIDE VARIETY OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR. THE CROSS-LAGGED PANEL CORRELATION IS EXPLAINED AS THE TECHNIQUE USED TO INTERPRET THE DATA. RESULTS SHOWED THAT FOR THE SAMPLE AS A WHOLE, AND FOR THE LOWER AND HIGHER SOCIOECONOMIC CLASSES SEPARATELY, SELF-ESTEEM HAS A STRONGER EFFECT ON DELINQUENCY THAN DELINQUENCY HAS ON SELF-ESTEEM. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE LOWER CLASS WHERE THE SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR DELINQUENT ACTIVITY MAY BE STRONGER AND THE SOCIAL CONDEMNATION WEAKER. FOR THE SAME REASON, DELINQUENCY APPEARS TO DAMAGE THE SELF-ESTEEM OF THE HIGHER CLASS YOUTH MORE THAN THAT OF THE LOWER CLASS YOUTH. A BRIEF CRITIQUE OF THE STUDY IS GIVEN BY A SOCIOLOGIST, WHOSE CRITICISMS ARE IN TURN ANSWERED BY THE STUDY'S AUTHORS. THE DATA DERIVED FROM ANALYSIS ARE PROVIDED, ALONG WITH REFERENCES. (RCB)