State Wards, Long-Term Care, and Delinquent Acts: An Analysis of Social Bond Factors (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship)

Bost tests two structural models of violent delinquency among foster care youth derived from elements of Hirschi's (1969) Social Bond Theory. His seeks to determine whether adverse care experiences predict violent delinquency directly and, in tandem, indirectly through poor social bonds encompassing poor parent/caregiver attachments, poor school commitment, and involvement in prosocial activities. Bost s results indicate social bond variables fully mediate the care experience/violent delinquency link. However, the majority of the mediator effect was attributed to poor school commitment. Attachment to birth parents and grandparents had no effect on the model, while attachment to foster parents proved relevant. Moreover, the model functioned more efficiently for males than females and differed across gender and race subgroups.