This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hadjar, A. Articles by Hagan, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Juvenile Delinquency and Gender Revisited

The Family and Power-Control Theory Reconceived

University of Bern, Switzerland

Dirk Baier

Criminological Research Institute, Hannover, Germany

Klaus Boehnke

International University Bremen, Germany

John Hagan

Northwestern University, USA

Cross-cultural evidence on the gender gap in delinquency is presented. Based on power-control theory (PCT), gender differences in aggressive behaviour are analysed. We assume that differences in labour force participation between father and mother lead to differences in parental control behaviour towards boys and girls, which in turn lead to different risk-taking preferences and eventually produce gender differences in aggressive behaviour. A revised PCT acknowledges that dominance ideologies also play a role in the genesis of gender differences in delinquency. This proposition is also tested. Analyses are based on data from 319 families (father, mother and two adolescent opposite-sex siblings) from West Berlin, East Berlin and Toronto. The findings support assumptions of PCT but differ substantially between the three cities. Evidence of the link between structural patriarchy and parental style – postulated in the original PCT – is found in East Berlin, whereas the West Berlin and Toronto results fit a modified version of PCT featuring gender-role attitudes (ideological patriarchy).

Key Words: Adolescence • Attitudes and Values • Cross-Cultural Research • Delinquency • Gendered Socialization • Parental Styles

European Journal of Criminology, Vol. 4, No. 1, 33-58 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1477370807071729


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Hadjar, D. Baier, and K. Boehnke The socialization of hierarchic self-interest: Value socialization in the family Young, August 1, 2008; 16(3): 279 - 301. [Abstract] [PDF]