Explaining Delinquent Behavior Among Adolescent Girls: Internal Social Control and Differential Association

Questionnaires were completed by ninety girls participating in a therapeutic wilderness program. Indexes were constructed of problems in school, sexual activities, drug and alcohol use, violent acts, major property offenses, minor property offenses, and miscellaneous misdemeanors. Measures of internal social control were of attachment to parents and to school, commitment to educational goals, involvement in homework, beliefs about drug use, and respect for the law. Differential association was measured by questions about friends\u27 behaviors. The combined influence of internal social control as a barrier to deviance and differential association as a push toward deviance was examined. Theories used earlier to explain delinquency among boys generally worked well in identifying the correlates of deviant behavior among these adolescent girls, though results varied for the different types of deviance considered. Implications of results for program development are discussed