How Does Self-Complexity of Identity Moderate the Relationship between Strain and Crime?

Studies are inconclusive as to which characteristics exacerbate or inhibit criminal reactions to strain. This study examines how self-complexity of identity conditions the relationship between strain and crime. Those who are lower in self-complexity, or those with few overlapping identities, should be more likely to respond to strain with crime than those who are higher in self-complexity. This proposition was tested through analyzing a cross-sectional survey of 357 undergraduates at a Southeastern university. Strong support was found for the conditioning effect of self-complexity on serious crime while partial support was found for this effect on property crime. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

The Moderating Effect of Type of Deviance on the Relationships among Gender, Morality, Deviant Peers, and Deviance

Empirical research indicates that males are not only more likely to associate with deviant friends, but are also more strongly affected by such association than females. Literature to date also finds that the gendered effect of deviant association is explained by the gender difference in morality, such that weaker morality leaves males more susceptible to the effect of deviant association. This study replicates previous research but goes further by utilizing unique self-reported data (N= 502) that contains 15 deviant behaviors and examines how the type of deviance moderates relationships among gender, morality, deviant association, and deviance

Reconsidering the Broken Homes/Delinquency Relationship and Exploring its Mediating Mechanism

As a result of methodological limitations, prior research may have artificially attenuated the magnitude of the broken homes/delinquency relationship. As a result of theoretical limitations, prior research has achieved only limited success in identifying the mechanism through which broken homes may promote delinquency. The present study addresses both issues using a national probability sample of 1, 725 adolescents. Results suggest that divorce/separation early in the life course may be more strongly related to delinquency than prior research implies and that remarriage during adolescence may be strongly associated with status offending. Overall, results also suggest that association with deviant peers and attitudes favorable to delinquency account for the broken homes/delinquency relationship better than do a number of alternative explanations