The integrated social control model and ethnicity: The Case of Puerto Rican American Delinquency

Delinquency research has not generally addressed the question raised by ethnographic studies concerning the extent to which the delinquency of specific ethnic groups can be modeled with a general theory. This study uses data from a survey of inner-city Puerto Rican American male adolescents to replicate Elliott, Huizinga, and Ageton's analytical model of delinquency based on an integration of social control, social learning, and strain theories. Taking as a point of departure Elliott and associates' path model results, and using the same measures developed for their National Youth Survey, the study applies the results of previous ethnographic research on the cultural specificity of the Hispanic family and on the relationships between conventional institutions and adolescent peer groups in inner cities to hypothesize a different model of delinquent involvement among Puerto Rican inner-city youths. The results generally verify the posited model, indicating that among Puerto Rican American adolescents, family bonding is a more important influence on delinquency whereas peer bonding is less important than is the case in the national sample of more affluent White youths. However, the most influential factors found in the National Youth Survey are also powerful predictors among Puerto Rican American youth.