Gender Differences in College Student Deviance

• In Event: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Sexuality, and Offending

Abstract

College has long been associated with “experimentation” with various forms of deviance, but this obviously is not true for all college students. So what differentiates deviant college students from their non-deviant peers? We identify gendered socialization and how it interacts with the social context (residence, finances, and other aspects of daily life) of college life as the primary force that creates divergent pathways to deviance. This study addresses three research questions. First, how deviant are college students? Second, how does gender affect college deviance? Third, how does context affect deviance for males and females in a college setting? The authors use original data collected at a large Southwestern university (N=867) to explore the relationship between gender, deviance, college contexts.

Authors

• Paul DC Bones, Texas Woman's University

• Meredith Worthen, University of Oklahoma