Change in Family Structure and Rates of Violent Juvenile Delinquency

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dc.contributor.authorFry, Jeannie A.en
dc.contributor.committeechairHawdon, James E.en
dc.contributor.committeememberShoemaker, Donald J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberMekolichick, Jeanneen
dc.contributor.departmentSociologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:37:40Zen
dc.date.adate2010-06-22en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:37:40Zen
dc.date.issued2010-05-17en
dc.date.rdate2010-06-22en
dc.date.sdate2010-05-19en
dc.description.abstractThis paper addresses the question: Have the changes in family structure in the U.S. become a catalyst for juvenile delinquency? For this research, I use existing statistics for my three independent variables: divorce rates, rate of working mothers with children under age 18, percent female-headed households. My dependent variable, juvenile violent crime rates, is measured using data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. My control variables consist of the following: percent of population aged 15-25, unemployment rate, incarceration rates, drug rates, rates of gun ownership, police employment, percent of those with weekly religious service attendance, percent of persons who have a "great deal" of confidence in the Executive branch of the United States, and percent of people who can trust others. I examine Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory (1990) as a possible theoretical explanation of the correlation between changes in family structure and juvenile delinquency. Previous research has shown with less supervision, monitoring and punishing the child, low self-control results leading to delinquency. My population includes all individuals in these statistics. I use a time series analysis, spanning from 1980 to 2006, to show the changes in rates over time and the correlations between family variables and juvenile delinquency.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-05192010-095240en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05192010-095240/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/33004en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartFry_JF_T_2010.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectfamily structureen
dc.subjectviolent crimeen
dc.subjectJuvenile Delinquencyen
dc.titleChange in Family Structure and Rates of Violent Juvenile Delinquencyen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineSociologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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