Peers and

Delinquency
Akers’ Social Learning Theory

 Delinquent behaviors are learned just like most other

behaviors are learned
 Juveniles learn delinquency from other children and
from adults
 Research has found that what people do matters
more than what they say in terms of impact on others
 Key Terms: Differential Associations, Definitions,
Differential Reinforcement, Imitation
Differential Associations

 These are group-level interactions

 Most kids are exposed primarily to rule-followers
and law-abiders, including parents and peers
 This means that their differential associations
present them with "definitions" favorable to
conformity most of the time
Definitions
 These are attitudes about behaviors in general and about
specific behaviors, like criminal versus conforming behaviors.
 Definitions are also context-dependent. You might not only
have a favorable definition of robbery, but you probably also
have a favorable definition of robbery in a certain context only
(at night, suitable target, no one else around, etc.).
 We can use various synonyms to think about definitions, like
justifications, excuses, beliefs, values, rationalizations, and so
forth.
 In a given situation, if the balance of definitions toward
delinquency is greater than toward conformity, then
delinquency is the likely outcome
Differential Reinforcement

 Basically, some behaviors are rewarded and other

behaviors are punished
 We are more likely to continue to engage in a behavior
if we are given "rewards" for doing the behavior
 Rewards and punishments could be anything. Status
could be a reward. A negative drug experience, like a
"bad trip" could be a "punished" (a cost)
Imitation

 Humans are biologically programed to imitate and

mimic those around them from very young ages
 We are highly influenced by the behaviors and actions
of those around us
 This can even happen subconsciously, such as
contagious yawns or laughter
 If a child is surrounded by delinquent peers and/or
delinquent parents, then the child is more likely to pick-
up those behaviors
Moffitt’s Developmental taxonomy

 Minor acts of delinquency are a “natural” part

of growing up that results from the “maturity
gap”
 The maturity gap exists because children reach
physical maturity—the ability to physically
reproduce—long before they achieve full social
maturity and are given adult status and privilege
 This leads to frustration and a need to generate
status in other ways
Maturity Gaps, Continued

 For example, adolescent drinking of alcohol and

experimentation with tobacco and marijuana is
relatively common; these are delinquent but not serious
offenses
 Minor acts of property destruction are often common
 Breaking the rules, without really demonstrating that one
is morally depraved, is a way for boys especially to gain
social status from their peers
 Failure to participate in minor acts of delinquency may
result in others shaming, ridiculing, or excluding the
conformer
Moffitt's Taxonomy

 In its simplest form, there are three different kinds of

groups of children:
 Adolescent-Limited Offenders
 Life-Course Persistent Offenders
 Abstainers
Adolescent Limited Offenders

 These kids offend largely because of the maturity gap

 They start offending in their early teenage years and
they stop offending when they become adults (this is
called aging-out)
 They tend to only engage in minor acts of delinquency
 Most children in Western societies fall into this category,
although within the category some children are more
delinquent than others
Life Course Persistent Offenders

 These are children who begin exhibiting anti-social

behaviors from very young ages, such as biting, hitting,
and in other ways hurting other children
 They begin to engage in serious delinquency at relatively
young ages, including serious kinds of delinquency
 They do not tend to age-out of delinquency when they
finish schooling; they tend to be criminogenic for much
longer
 These individuals account for a disproportionate amount
of violence and serious drug use; they represent a small
proportion of children
Abstainers

 These are kids who lack the socially desirable

characteristics or traits that their peers largely desire, so
they are often excluded from opportunities to engage in
delinquency
 They may have adult responsibilities at young ages, and
so they may not face the maturity gap in the same way
as other children
 They may also simply be less interested in obtaining
status from their peers and may prefer to engage in
traditional "adult" activities
Delinquent Groups: Additional
Questions from the Reading
 How might we describe delinquent groups?
 What did Warr mean when he wrote that delinquent
friends tend to be “sticky”?
 What is meant by “birds of a feather flock together”
and what is the counter to this argument?
 What experiments have tried to understand the causal
influence of peers on aggressive and/or risky
behaviors?
 What are the mechanisms of peer influence?
Friendship networks

 Interesting gender patterns considering the gender of

friends
 Guys with more girls as friends engage in less delinquency
 Girls with more guys as friends engage in more delinquency
 Most children do not have networks of friends that are
either completely delinquent or completely conforming; a
combination of the two is most common
 However, the more delinquent friends in a network, the
more likely an individual engages in delinquent behavior
Sports: Kreager’s Research
 The Issue: Does participation in sports correlate with
violent behavior? [Or, does participation inhibit violent
behaviors?]
 Results
 Involvement in athletics does not inhibit violence
 Contact sports (football and wrestling) have high
correlations with violent behaviors, but non-contact
sports do not
 BUTthe effect of football is attributable to peer
networks
 Potential limitation of the research: Selection effect?
Why does delinquency give
juveniles status?
 “Universal” desire for attention. Delinquency gets attention;
conformity usually does not
 Pleasurable physiological response to delinquency building
from sexual maturity
 Attention and pleasure often overlap, hence group
delinquency
 Displays of dominance are a “universal” among adolescents,
especially males
 Rule violation is a way to realize self-determination in a social
context wherein kids have little power
 Vicarious status: a child may gain status by being a friend of
someone else who has lots of status
Recap of proximate and ultimate
causes
 Proximate causes may be useful and important, but they also tend
to be superficial. There may be better explanations at a deeper
level of analysis
 Ultimate causes are the deepest explanations that are still useful
 Example: Why does someone have blue eyes
 Proximate cause: Because her parents have blue eyes
 Ultimate cause: Because genetic information from both parents
coded for blue eyes
 Ultimate cause that is not useful: Because carbon atoms arrange
themselves in patterned ways…and then we “see” blue…
Bidirectional relationship for
learning and homophily?

 “Birds
of a Feather” and social learning
may both be correct. How?
Some reasons why delinquent
groups are unstable
 Individual members have low self-control
 Members come from families with higher rates of mobility
and instability
 Members may be more likely to experience periods of
incarceration
 Members may be more likely to seek new delinquent
friends (boredom with old friends)
 Members may be more likely to seek a “new start”
(desire to conform)