This study examines the mediating effect of social bonding on delinquent behavior among Kurdish teens. Major influences to the study of self concept and delinquency based on Hirschi’s social bonding theory are reviewed. The data was collected from a sample of 100 Kurdish teens attending a Gülen affiliated school (Private Çaglayan Murat Anatolian Science High School in Şanlıurfa, Turkey) and 100 Kurdish teens attending a public (non- Gülen) school (The Public High School in Diyarbakır, Turkey). There are two dependent variables for this research project: Involvement in major delinquency and involvement in minor delinquency. The components of social bonding attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief were used as independent variables. Participants’ age ranged between 16 to 18 years. I hypothesize that the relation between the social bonding elements and delinquency should be stronger in the case of Kurdish adolescents who are more attached to conventional Turkish society. Results from binary logistic regression analyses indicate that in the absence of bonding, Kurdish teenagers tend to engage in major and minor delinquent activities. For further exploration and results, the Gülen Movement was examined as an independent variable. Findings suggest a strong relationship between the Gülen Movement and Kurdish adolescents’ probability of involvement in either major or minor delinquent activities. Finally, several directions for future research on Hirschi’s social bonding theory are recommended and some implications are drawn for deterring Kurdish adolescents from becoming involved in delinquent actions.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2008. / Title from screen (viewed on August 27, 2009). Department of DEPT, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Margaret Adamek, William H. Barton, David Westhuis, G. Roger Jarjoura, Jeffrey Anderson. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-184).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / No longer is the family the only unit of care for children and their education; schools are now the primary unit of education and are responsible for at least 6-8 hours of student connectedness. Yet, one in every 100 US students is truant. Among students ages 14-17, the number of truants is one in 10. In one township in Indiana, one in every three students is a chronic truant. Understanding why children disengage from school before reaching the compulsory attendance age of 16 is essential. This study explored the relationship of schools’ social bonding opportunities and principals’ perceptions of students’ social bond on rates of chronic truancy in middle schools. Chronic truancy was defined as 10 or more absences reported to the Indiana Department of Education during the 2006-2007 school year. Methods. A cross-sectional online survey consisting of 81 items was administered using Survey Monkey™. The list of participants was generated from the Indiana Department of Education’s online database of middle and junior high schools in Indiana. Of the 429 principals invited to participate, 144 responded. The final sample consisted of 99 public schools. Secondary data was used to compare school demographic characteristics. Results. Using multiple regression analyses, the results showed that schools’ social bonding opportunities and principals’ perceptions of students’ social bonding in middle school were positively but not significantly related to rates of chronic truancy. The variables in the model of best fit accounted for 16% of the change in rates of chronic truancy. Principals reported doing well at creating opportunities for students to attach and be involved in school but that they needed to improve on building relationships to effectively increase social bonding in their middle schools. Conclusions. Student success is dependent on not only what the student brings to the school environment but what the school environment provides to the student. Creating an environment for students to thrive and succeed relies on the opportunities for social bonding in the middle school. Truancy prevention and school engagement is a shared responsibility.

Sports have been proposed as a means of reducing participation in delinquency. One criminological theory that would support this hypothesis is Travis Hirschi's social bond theory. The involvement element of that theory proposes that engaging juveniles in non-delinquent activities reduces engagement in delinquency. However, the relationship between sports and delinquency has not been adequately tested. Data from the first wave of the National Youth Survey were examined by ordinary least squares regression to determine if there was evidence supporting school sponsored sports programs as a means of reducing delinquency. No evidence was found to support the research hypothesis. Involvement in sports actually was associated with an increase in some types of delinquency, though the slope of the regression line was very slight. This study was a piece of evidence bringing into question the legitimacy of the involvement element in social bond theory.

本研究旨在依據美國犯罪學者赫許（Hirschi ）所發展之「社會控制理論」為架構修 訂台灣地區適用之少年犯罪傾向預測量表，進而考驗少年機車竊盜犯及贓物犯行為相 關因素與正常少年、犯罪少年的差異情形。 在研究方法上，以台灣地區北、中、南三地犯罪少年及正常少年1288名為對象，主要 採自陳式「青少年活活適應量表」及「偏差行為量表」為工具，而以多因子變異較分 析、逐步迴歸分析、區別分析及典型相關分析等統計方法分析資料。 研究結果主要發現：ぇ機車組與犯罪組在依附、投入、抱負、信念及偏差行為等因素 上均有顯著差異。え機車組與正常組在依附、投入、信念及偏差行為上均有顯著差異 ，而在抱負因素上無顯著差異。ぉ預測犯罪傾向以偏差行為效果最佳；而預測偏差行 為，則依次以依附、信念、投入、抱負等因素效果較佳。 根據上述發現，研究者提出減少少年機車竊盜與贓物犯罪事件發生之對策，以期改善 少年犯罪問題的繼續惡化。