Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Theoretical Predictors Of Delinquency In And Out Of School Among A Sample Of Rural Public School Youth, David May, Preston Elrod, Irina Soderstrom

Preston Elrod, Ph.D.

This paper compares predictors of in-school and out-of-school delinquency and is based on data collected from 2,011 subjects at two elementary, one middle, and one high school in a rural school district. Predictors were derived from a variety of theoretical perspectives including social organization and social control; interactionist theory; differential association and social learning; strain, culture conflict, and critical theory. In addition, several demographic variables were included in the analysis. Regression results revealed that negative peer influence, victimization experience, attachment to school, gender, general strain, alienation, and the student’s self-reported response to a weapon at school were significant predictors of …