SCHOOL BONDING, RACE, AND DELINQUENCY*

TLDR

Evidence shows that black students experience school differently from white students, yet the impact of school bonding on juvenile misconduct across races has rarely been examined. This study examines how school bonding influences delinquent behavior, particularly among black youth, and considers family and peer bonding in interpreting the results. Using a control‑theory framework, the authors assessed seven dimensions of school bonding among 942 adolescents to predict delinquency. The analysis shows that black and white students are similarly bonded to school, the model explains delinquency similarly across race‑sex groups, and school racial composition has little effect, supporting control theory yet warning against premature generalization.

Abstract

While there is considerable evidence that blacks experience school in qualitatively distinct ways from whites, there has been a general failure to examine racial variation in the impact of school variables on juvenile misconduct. The purpose of this research is to describe the manner in which school bonding affects delinquent conduct, focusing in particular on the role of the school in the delinquent involvement of black youths. Our orientation is primarily a control theory one that suggests that the greater the degree of school bonding the lesser the likelihood of involvement in delinquent activities. Our review of the literature leads us to expect differential levels of bonding by race and across varying racial environments of schools, with resulting differential effects on delinquency. On the basis of a neighborhood sample of 942 adolescents, we identijj seven distinct dimensions of school bonding. The analysis reveals that blacks are at least as strongly bonded to the school as whites, that our model explains comparable amounts of variance in delinquency across race‐sex subgroups, and that the racial composition of the school is generally unimportant in conditioning the effect of school bonding on delinquency. While our findings are generally supportive of control theory, a model that purports to be invariant across race, gender, and socioeconomic boundaries, we caution that such a conclusion may be both premature and mistaken. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest that they be interpreted within a framework that also considers family and peer bonding.