| High crime and delinquency rates among youth have sparked major debate among scholars. The Social Bond Theory of the General Crime Theory has served as a prominent theory in explaining crime and delinquency. Previous studies that have investigated various components of the General Crime Theory have examined the relationship of self-control and social bonding with crime and delinquency, but they have failed to elaborate on family bonding; and they have neglected the importance of family involvement among crime correlates. Moreover, studies that have addressed family bonding generally find family involvement to be a weak variable. Utilizing social bonding, this study has two purposes. The first purpose is to determine whether self-control, family attachment, family involvement, family beliefs, and correlates of crime can explain minor and serious delinquency. The second purpose is to determine which variable influencing minor and serious delinquency has the most important impact.;A sample of 549 United States' youth between the ages of 15 and 17 is drawn from the National Youth Survey, a representative sample of 1,725. Drawing on theoretical explanations of self-control and social bonding, several hypotheses are presented. First, it is hypothesized that self-control will hold its integrity among family attachment, family involvement, and family beliefs. Second, it is hypothesized that self-control, family attachment, family involvement, family beliefs, gender, family type, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity have a significant relationship with minor and serious delinquency. Third, it is hypothesized that family involvement will have the most important impact on minor and serious delinquency.;In this study, the chi-square analyses showed that family involvement, gender, and family type were found to have significant relationships with minor delinquency, and only family involvement and family type were found to have a significant relationship with serious delinquency. The logistical regression analyses showed that family involvement was the most important variable in impacting minor and serious delinquency. However, self-control, family attachment, and family beliefs were removed from the model. Overall, these findings imply that the juvenile justice system should partner with family intervention providers that may provide a proactive approach to dealing with delinquency and working with families. |
