the incarcerated adolescents did have significantly higher levels of isolation, powerlessness, and overall alienation, but not higher levels of normlessness. Instead of not understanding or internalizing societal norms, it appeared that the incarcerated subjects actively rejected them. These results imply that by seeking to decrease levels of alienation and to increase respect for societal norms, the rate of delinquent behavior and recidivism could be reduced.
This study and the general theory spelled out earlier are supported by Calabrese & Cochran (1990). In this study, the researchers looked at the relationship between alienation and cheating, which can be considered a form of the most common juvenile delinquent behavior - stealing. Calabrese and Cochran (1990) found that cheating was significantly more prevalent among males than among females, and more prevalent among those subjects with high levels of contextual alienation, such as students in private boarding schools who were separated from their families, than those with low levels.
These results are in accordance with the statistics of juvenile delinquency mentioned previously, i.e. that the occurrence of delinquent behavior is up to ten times greater among males than females.
This sex difference in delinquency rates is further supported by Young (1989) who assessed the relationship between alienation and criminal deviance in 40 male and 70 female adolescent subjects. He found that a) criminal deviance was significantly more common among males, and b)alienation was a more potent motivational factor for males, as evidenced by the fact that alienation had a moderate but significant correlation with delinquency for males but not for females. Young suggests that this finding might be explained by gender-differentiated socialization patterns, which encourage assertive (and sometimes even aggressive or delinquent) behavior in males and passivity in females.
Tolan (19...