Abstract
Purpose. This dissertation examined youths from economically advantaged neighborhoods who are often overlooked in the literature with the presumption that they are not committing delinquent acts or engaging in delinquent behavior. Guided by an ecological framework, this study attempted to identify risk factors for delinquent behavior by understanding the adolescents' perceptions of available social support while also looking at their family cohesion. This study predicts that high socioeconomic status is not an absolute protective factor against delinquency as the adolescent may not perceive available social support as useful and valuable, or they may have a low level of family cohesion. Method. 124 adolescents who attend alternative high schools located in economically advantaged neighborhoods were sampled using the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1974), Self Reported Delinquency Scale (Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988), a demographic survey which consisted of questions regarding household income was also used. Results. The results of the present study revealed three statistically significant main effects for household income, family cohesion and perception of available social support. The first finding indicated that the high income group reported higher levels of serious crime than the moderate income group. The second finding of the present study suggested a marginally significant result, suggesting that respondents with low perceived available social support expressed higher rates of self-reported delinquent behavior than did their counterparts with high perceptions of available social support. Discussion. Contrary to predictions, the findings indicated that the respondents with high family cohesion yielded higher levels of self-reported delinquent behavior as compared to their low cohesion counterparts. Implications of these results were discussed.