Community-level influences on individuals' social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency: A multilevel analysis

Social disorganization theory is usually considered a macro-level theory, and therefore has been used almost exclusively to explain variation in crime rates. Shaw and McKay, however, also applied their theory to explaining micro-level variation in social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency. Specifically, they argued that social bonds and peer associations actually mediated the influence of social disorganization on delinquency. Little empirical research has focused on this interpretation of their theory. In this study the connections between neighborhood-level social disorganization and individual-level social bonds, peer associations, and delinquency are explicated and tested empirically with multilevel data and hierarchical linear modeling. The results show that social disorganization significantly affects peer associations but not social bonds. In addition, the effect of social disorganization on delinquency is mediated fully by peer associations. Implications for future research on social disorganization theory are discussed.

I would like to thank Barbara D. Warner, Richard R. Clayton, and Bryan M. Johnstone as well as this journal's three anonymous reviewers and editor for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. This work was partially supported under Grant DA-05312 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the Center for Prevention Research, University of Kentucky.

I would like to thank Barbara D. Warner, Richard R. Clayton, and Bryan M. Johnstone as well as this journal's three anonymous reviewers and editor for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. This work was partially supported under Grant DA-05312 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the Center for Prevention Research, University of Kentucky.

Notes

I would like to thank Barbara D. Warner, Richard R. Clayton, and Bryan M. Johnstone as well as this journal's three anonymous reviewers and editor for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. This work was partially supported under Grant DA-05312 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the Center for Prevention Research, University of Kentucky.