Exploring the Interactive Effects Between Neighborhood Social Capital and Unstructured Peer Socializing on Property Offending

• In Event: Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use in the Context of Neighborhood

Abstract

Youth who spend more time in unstructured activities are especially at risk for engaging in delinquency. Maimon and Browning (2010) found an interactive effect between collective efficacy and unstructured socializing, in which the effect of unstructured socializing with peers on violent offending was only significant in neighborhoods with low collective efficacy. The present study expands on these findings and explores whether these results hold for property crimes, with a sample of 1,354 adolescents from the Pathways to Desistance study. Using hierarchical linear modeling, it examines whether youths’ perceptions of neighborhood social capital moderate the relationship between time spent in unstructured peer activities and property offenses and explores whether these relationships change over time. It is expected that the effect of time spent in unstructured activities on property offending will be weaker for youth who perceive higher levels of neighborhood social capital. Implications for policy and theory will be discussed.

Authors

• Megan McConaghy, Temple University

• Jeffrey T. Ward, Temple University