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Sampson and Laub's age-graded informal social control theory has generated arash of recent attention vying to become the prominent explanation for criminalinvolvement across the life-course. It, however, has spawned a number ofcriticisms and an equivocal body of research. Many of these criticisms havecentered on whether their findings from their reanalysis of the Glueck data - adataset consisting of all white males born in the late 1920's and early1930's - can be generalized to other racial groups, females, and historicalperiods. Using latent growth curve analyses, the current project exploreswhether marriage, a factor highlighted by Sampson and Laub, is related todesistance from substance abuse among a sample of African Americans born in the 1950-1960s in Harlem, New York City. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND DELINQUENT INVOLVEMENT:REVISITING HIRSCHI'S CRIMINOLOGICAL CLASSIC*ABSTRACTJames D. UnneverMississippi State UniversityFrancis T. CullenUniversity of CincinnatiScott MathersMississippi State UniversityTimothy McClureMississippi State UniversityMarissa AllisonMississippi State UniversityIn recent years, Hirschi's self-control theory—a perspective introduced in 1990 with Michael Gottfredson—has earned much attention (for reviews of studies, see Gottfredson 2006; Pratt and Cullen 2000). But the ascendancy of this version of control theory has not undermined the continued vitality of social bond theory, which Hirschi set forth in 1969 in Causes of Delinquency. Indeed, the construct of social bonds continues to occupy a central place in life-course and integrated theories of crime (see, e.g., Agnew 1992, 2006; Braithwaite 1989; Colvin 2000; Sampson and Laub 1993; Sherman 1993; Thornberry 1987). Although criminology has come to be marked by theoretical diversity, Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency succeeded in identifying three core perspectives whose competition has been integral to the field: his social bond/control theory; "cultural deviance" or social learning theory; and strain theory (Agnew 2001; Cullen, Wright, and Blevins 2006; see also, Kornhauser 1978). In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi specified the elements and distinctiveness of his own theory and sought to show its empirical superiority over the reigning perspectives of his day. In so doing, he established the dominant research paradigm for the following decade: first, identify competing theories; second develop and incorporate into self-report surveys measures of theoretical variables and delinquency; and third, test the theories against one another.Across the years, Hirschi's social bond theory has been locked in a vigorous battle with social learning theory as to their relative empirical adequacy (Akers 1998; Akers and Sellers 2004; Costello 1997; Matsueda 1988, 1997; Pratt and Cullen 2000; Sampson 1999). Causes of Delinquency inspired this debate by challenging whether positive learning was needed to motivate crime and by proposing that peer groups had an uncertain causal impact since "birds of a feather flock together." However, "cultural deviance theory"—Hirschi's name for differential association/social learning theory—survived Hirschi's attempt to falsify it. By contrast, many scholars felt that Causes of Delinquency delivered a decisive blow to traditional strain theory, especially to Cloward and Ohlin's (1960s) version linking strain to delinquency. As a result of Hirschi's attack and its lack of empirical support, strain theory diminished in its overall importance. It is only recently that strain theory has been resurrected and revitalized due to Agnew's (1992) promulgation of "general strain theory" (GST) (Burton and Cullen 1992; see also, Laub 2002) and, in a less direct way, of Messner and Rosenfeld's (1994) macro-level institutional-anomie theory. We suggest, however, that Hirschi's dismissal of strain theory in Causes of Delinquency had an unanticipated and unfortunate consequence: it led Hirschi to miss the opportunity to demonstrate that racial discrimination is implicated in the delinquency of African American youths. In the current project, we revisit the data used in Causes of Delinquency and demonstrate empirically that racial discrimination is a robust predictor of delinquency... ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]