Content area
Abstract
The major question addressed by the current research project is to what extent do the roles that we hold explain differences in rates of involvement in deviant behaviors during the years between adolescence and adulthood? Status integration, social control, and multiple identities theories/perspectives use role statuses as indicators of one's level of integration into society. Each hypothesizes an inverse relationship between level of integration, as reflected by the roles which are held, and level of involvement in delinquent and criminal behavior. The theories/perspectives differ in that status integration addresses the compatibility of roles, social control focuses on the tendency of conventional roles to strengthen the social bond, and multiple identities examines the additive nature of roles. Additional analyses examine the extent to which roles account for the age effect on deviant behavior and whether the impact of roles varies with age. The data for the analyses were collected by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) as part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The present research uses data from the 1980 and 1984 NLSY. Dependent variables are the levels of delinquent and criminal involvement as measured by 11 deviance scales. Roles held, age, and a number of control variables are employed as independent variables. Results from hierarchical regression analyses indicate that social control theory is best able to explain the impact of roles on involvement in deviant behaviors during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. In addition, role statuses account for a large portion of the total variance associated with age. When roles are added to the regression equation, especially for the substance use scales, the amount of explained variance attributable to the age variables is decreased by one-half. Finally, the effect of role statuses varies with age. Specifically, subjects who possess nonnormative role statuses at a young age (i.e., those who are not living with parents, single, nonparents, or students) tend to report increased levels of involvement in other forms of deviant behavior.
