Citation

Kevorkian SS, Meldrum RC, Rivero Fuentes ME, Hare T. Int. Criminol. 2023; 3(3): 253-269.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s43576-023-00101-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A primary argument of Anderson's (Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city, Norton, 1999) code of the street thesis is that youth who hold stronger street code values are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior, particularly violence. While support for this argument has been observed in past research both within and outside the United States, it has not yet been scrutinized in the Central American context. Using data collected in 2022 from separate samples of youth in Honduras (N = 950) and El Salvador (N = 821), we investigate the association between street code values and three outcomes: delinquency, substance use, and bullying perpetration.

RESULTS show that while street code values are positively associated with each of the outcomes when accounting for demographic and socioeconomic variables, the association is substantively reduced, often to non-significance, once other competing theoretical variables such as low self-control and peer antisocial behavior are considered.

DISCUSSION centers on the interpretation of these findings and situating them within the larger body of research investigating the association between individual street code values and antisocial behavior.

Language: en

Keywords

Bullying; Central America; Delinquency; Street code values; Substance use