Youth crime has been increasing rapidly since the Economy Reform and Open-door Policy in 1979 and become a serious social problem in China. Researches on explanations of juvenile delinquency, however, are relatively limited, while a number of scholars in western countries have developed delicate theoretical models to explore this problem. General strain, differential association, and social bond theory are employed in the current study to test if western theories can be applied to a different social context and to empirically explain the causes of youth crime in China. An integrated model is addressed through a self-reported survey with 385 respondents. The respondents are high school students in the city of Shenyang, aged from 16 to 18. Data from the questionnaire survey suggests that these three theories could explain Chinese youth crime. Two separate Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models are built for analyzing delinquency of males and females. Predictors related to strain and differential association theory are directly associated with youth crime, while weak social bonds have indirect impacts on juvenile delinquency. Males and females are influenced by different factors when they are involved in delinquency. The thesis concludes with a discussion of establishing a theoretical integrated model for Chinese adolescence and provides policy implications for protection programs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-08042009-202707 |
| Date | 12 August 2009 |
| Creators | Wang, Wei |
| Contributors | Wotherspoon, Terry, Zong, Li, Cheng, Hongming |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-08042009-202707/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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