Examining the Effects of Family and School Social Capital on Delinquent Behavior

Abstract

In this article we evaluate and compare the effects of social capital at home and social capital at school on the frequency of involvement in delinquent behavior in the previous year. Using data from the first wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health, 1994–95; N = 8,100), a nationally representative survey of youth in the United States, we find that social sources of capital in the family exert a stronger negative influence on delinquency than school-based sources of capital, net the effects of other common correlates of this type of adolescent behavior.