Gender, Race, and Delinquent Behavior: An Extension of Power-Control Theory to American Indian Adolescents

Abstract

Research testing Hagan’s power-control theory has largely been tested with samples of non-Hispanic whites. We extend prior research by testing the theory’s merits with a sample of American Indian (AI) adolescents. Overall, we find mixed support for the theory’s merits. However, we find that our measure of patriarchy is a robust predictor of AI female delinquent activity. We also find that a grandparent in the household serves to greatly reduce involvement in violent behavior among AI females. Compared to a sample of non-Hispanic whites, these results reveal the importance of testing explanations of deviant behavior across racial and ethnic groups.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

David Eitle and Fallon Niedrist are co-first authors. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Notes

¹ There have been a number of revisions to power-control theory since its original conception, with a variety of mediating variables being proposed. Among the mediators that have been proposed and tested are patriarchal gender role beliefs (Hagan et al. 2004), hierarchic self-interest (i.e., an individual expression of such societal dominance ideologies as competition, success orientation, and acceptance of social inequality; Hadjar 2004; Hadjar et al. 2007; Hagan et al. 1998), the influence of the media and churches (Avakame 1997), and sanction threat perceptions (Blackwell 2000). Tests of these mediators have largely supported their inclusion. Unfortunately, data limitations prohibit us from considering such mediators, so our test will be (largely) a test of the original model, with the consideration of two additional measures that have been used in elaborated models—relational controls and risk perceptions.

² Nakao and Treas had 1,500 General Social Survey respondents rank 740 occupations and constructed a prestige scale based on the broad categories of the Census.

³ The decision to use negative binomial regression models was based on the results of an analysis comparing the fit of poisson, negative binominal regression, zero inflated poisson, and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models using a procedure in STATA called countfit (see Long and Freese 2006:409–414). Countfit generates a table of estimates, a table of differences between observed and average estimated probabilities, a graph of any differences, and various tests and measures of fit used to compare count models. These tests revealed that the negative binomial models (for each of the three dependent variables) were either the best fit of the various count models or were essentially equivalent in fit to the zero-inflated negative binomial models.

⁴ The SUEST procedure, in conjunction with test, is a more appropriate test of whether a variable has a similar effect across the models of two different groups in non-linear analyses, because “such an approach assesses whether the impact of a measure differs across groups by taking a ratio of the two coefficients” (Hoetker 2007:338). “By taking a ratio, we have removed the impact of unobserved variation and are left with a ratio of the variable’s underlying effects, which can now be compared across groups” (Hoetker 2007:338).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Eitle

DAVID EITLE is a Professor at Montana State University. His research interests include exploring the etiology of criminal and deviant behavior among adolescents and young adults, the nexus between racial and economic stratification, crime, and its social control, and the risk and protective factors associated with substance use and HIV-risk behaviors. His work appears in such journals as Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, Criminology, and Social Forces.

Fallon Niedrist

FALLON NIEDRIST received her bachelor degree in sociology from Montana State University with highest honors. She is currently a 2014 juris doctor candidate from Lewis and Clark Law School. Her legal education has focused on criminal law, constitutional law, and employment law. She has interned at the Portland City Attorney’s Office, the Oregon Supreme Court, and various nonprofit organizations in Portland, Oregon. She is an article editor on Lewis and Clark Law Review.

Tamela McNulty Eitle

TAMELA McNULTY EITLE is Associate Dean of the College of Letters and Science at Montana State University. She is interested in racial and ethnic disparities in health and education with a particular emphasis on how social contexts influence educational opportunities and health outcomes. Her current research focus is racial and ethnic disparities in the risk and protective factors associated with mental health and substance use.