ERIC Number: ED157186
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978-Feb
Pages: 72
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
School Crime as a Function of Person-Environment Fit.
Kulka, Richard A.; And Others
One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter proposes that school crime and disruption be conceptualized as a function of the congruence or fit between the personal characteristics of individual students and the social environments of the schools they attend. In developing a conceptual model, a selective review of the literature on juvenile delinquency is presented, identifying substantive and methodological strengths and weaknesses of past and current approaches. Second, the prerequisites for an adequate theory of delinquent behavior are specified, followed by a general description of a model of person-environment fit. Third, the relation of this model to delinquent behavior and school crime is described, emphasizing the importance of the school experience and specifying the major components of the model by reference to the school context. Fourth, the model is applied to selected theories and empirical results available from the current literature on delinquency and school crime, and data from two recent studies of adolescents are presented that lend support to the model and emphasize the unitary relationship between school crime or disruption and delinquent behavior in general. Finally, based on the preceding discussion, some general implications and conclusions are drawn. (Author/MLF)
Descriptors: Behavior Theories, Delinquent Behavior, Disadvantaged Youth, Educational Environment, Educational Experience, Elementary Secondary Education, Environmental Influences, Individual Characteristics, Literature Reviews, Models, Research Methodology, School Vandalism, Student Needs, Student Role, Student School Relationship, Violence
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, Hackensack, NJ. NewGate Resource Center.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Chapter 18 of "Theoretical Perspectives on School Crime, Volume I"; For other papers in this volume, see EA 010 729-768