Citation

Benda BB. Adolesc. Fam. Health 2002; 2(3): 123-131.

Affiliation

School of Social Work at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Instutute for Youth Development)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study of a stratified random sample of 3,395 high school students is designed to examine a proposed theoretical model of relationships between assets, deficits, and unlawful behavior (crime and use of substances), and to investigate whether there are gender and region of residence (urban versus rural) differences in what relations are significant. Several hypothesized relations are supported: for example, attachment to caregivers is inversely related to unlawful behavior among females, whereas delinquent peer association and use of excuses are positively related to this behavior only among males. Within gender comparisons show religiosity has a larger inverse relationship to unlawful behavior in rural than in urban settings. However, the relation between religiosity and unlawful behavior for rural males is commensurate to the one for urban females. Parental monitoring also has a larger inverse relationship to unlawful behavior among males than among females. Being abused and caregiver substance abuse also have positive relationships to unlawful behavior among all four subgroups. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.