Delinquency among African American Youth (Criminal Justice)

Carswell studies the relationships among parental attachment, socioeconomic status, peer relationships and participation in risk behaviors and delinquency among urban African American youth. He finds that higher socioeconomic status and parental attachment are related to decreased participation in risk behaviors in both deviant peer relationships and delinquency. Moreover, higher involvement in deviant peer relationships is related to greater participation in both risk behaviors and delinquency. The involvement of youth in delinquent behaviors is a reflection of a complex web of personal and public health problems in America that requires multiple prevention and intervention strategies designed to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors in the individual, family, peer, school, and community domains.