محله، فقر و رفتار منفی: بررسی ارتباط تفاضلی و نظریه کنترل اجتماعی

This study applies differential association and social control theories to childhood negative behaviors. Using a path analysis model, relationships between poverty, neighborhood SES, and parenting are explored. Analyses suggest that decreases in rates of poverty and increases in neighborhood SES lead to decreased negative behaviors, and aggravation with parenting is the greatest predictor of negative behavior.

The literature on the causes and resulting consequences of negative behavior among adolescents is pervasive. The factors influencing negative behavior arising out of the family, the parents, and the community have all been addressed in some detail. However, the application of these findings to younger children at an earlier developmental stage is still relatively new. In focusing on younger children, this study builds upon the existing knowledge about the influence of poverty, neighborhood SES, parental stress and mastery, discipline, and aggravation in parenting on negative behavior. Using data from the Fragile Families Study, a hypothesized model was tested using a priori constructs consistent with the literature. The results demonstrate a causal effect of these phenomena on negative behavior in children. Social control and differential association theories are used to explain the findings presented in the discussion building a framework which links individual choice and environmental influence.