Contributions of Three Criminological Theories to Explore Violent Delinquency of Urban Adolescents in Chicago’s Southside

Abstract

This study aims to compare the applicability of the Social Disorganization Theory, General Strain Theory, and Social Control Theory in the exploration of violent delinquency in Chicago's Southside. The study participants included 546 adolescents in Chicago. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation, and multivariate regression analyses were conducted. Supporting the Social Disorganization Theory, affiliation with delinquent peers mediated the association between poor neighborhood conditions and delinquency. Supporting the General Strain Theory, emotional distress mediated the relationship between peer victimization and delinquency. Inconsistent with the Social Control Theory, however, religiosity did not buffer the relationship between feeling disconnected from parents and delinquency.

Co-Word Analysis of First-Authored Publications Written by Top Cited Scholars of Social Work

“…The most representative publications for this cluster were written by Jun Sung Hong, who mainly collected data from African-American adolescents in Chicago's southside. His works focus on the risk and protective factors for bullying perpetration and victimization at multiple levels (Hong et al, 2021b;Hong et al, 2021e;Hong et al, 2020a;Hong et al, 2020b;Hong et al, 2020c) and the factors that buffer the association between victimization and its detrimental impacts (Hong et al, 2021c;Hong et al, 2021d;Hong et al, 2021f;Hong et al, 2021g).…”