MODELING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND DELINQUENCY: AN APPLICATION OF INTERACTIONAL THEORY

• Author: JOHN P. HOFFMANN,LANCE D. ERICKSON,KAREN R. SPENCE
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12014
• Published date: 01 August 2013
• Date: 01 August 2013

MODELING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND

DELINQUENCY: AN APPLICATION

OF INTERACTIONAL THEORY∗

JOHN P. HOFFMANN

LANCED.ERICKSON

KAREN R. SPENCE

Department of Sociology

Brigham Young University

KEYWORDS: academic achievement, delinquency, interactional theory

Many studies have addressed whether delinquent behavior is asso-

ciated with various aspects of schooling and academics. However, this

research has been limited to examining unidirectional effects. Building

on Thornberry’s interactional theory, we develop a conceptual model

that posits reciprocal associations among delinquent behavior, school

attachment, and academic achievement. The model is tested with two

waves from the Add Health data set (n =9,381) that include measures

∗Additional supporting information can be found in the listing for this arti-

cle in the Wiley Online Library at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/

crim.2011.51.issue-3/issuetoc.

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Amer-

ican Society of Criminology, Washington, DC, November 2011; the American So-

ciological Association, Atlanta, GA, August 2010; and the Pacific Sociological

Association, Oakland, CA, March 2007. We would like to thank Terry Thorn-

berry, Wayne Osgood, Kristie Phillips, Carter Rees, Dana Haynie, Toby Parcel,

Steve Bahr, Mikaela Dufur, and three anonymous Criminology reviewers for ad-

vice on previous versions of this study; and Benjamin McKune for assistance with

the data files. Our research uses data from Add Health, a program project de-

signed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris and

funded by Grant P01–HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Insti-

tute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17

other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Bar-

bara Entwisle for assistance with the original design. Persons interested in obtain-

ing data files from Add Health should contact the Carolina Population Center

(addhealth@unc.edu). No direct support was received from grant P01–HD31921

for this analysis. Direct correspondence to John P. Hoffmann, Department of So-

ciology, Brigham Young University, 2039 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602 (e-mail: john

hoffmann@byu.edu).

C2013 American Society of Criminology doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12014

CRIMINOLOGY Volume 51 Number 3 2013 629

630 HOFFMANN, ERICKSON, & SPENCE

of transcript grade point average (GPA). The results of a set of struc-

tural equation models provide evidence that academic achievement is

associated with less delinquent behavior over time, as well as with higher

school attachment. However, the effects of delinquency are limited to an

attenuating effect on subsequent school attachment; delinquency does

not directly influence academic achievement. Thus, we find only partial

support for interactional theory.

Many studies have addressed whether delinquent behavior is associated

with various aspects of schooling and academics. This research generally has

taken one of two approaches. First, several studies have examined whether

school performance, academic motivation, school bonds, or other aspects of

academic life affect delinquency either contemporaneously or at some later

point in time (e.g., Bachman et al., 2008; Felson and Staff, 2006; Savolainen

et al., 2012). Second, this research has investigated whether misbehavior or

delinquency affects subsequent school performance, academic motivation,

school bonds, high-school graduation, or college attendance (e.g., McLeod,

Uemura, and Rohrman, 2012; Siennick and Staff, 2009). These approaches

have yielded mixed results, although a tentative consensus is that low aca-

demic achievement and weak bonds to schools and teachers are associ-

ated with subsequent delinquent behavior (McCord et al., 2000). More-

over, greater involvement in delinquency increases the risk of high-school

dropout and decreases the probability of college attendance.

Most of these studies have imposed a clear causal order, but few have ex-

plored potential reciprocal associations among academics and delinquency.

As several studies have shown and elaborated theories of delinquency rec-

ommend, however, examining only unidirectional associations often pro-

vides a limited picture of the causes and consequences of delinquency

(Catalano and Hawkins, 1996; Thornberry et al., 2003). In this article, we

draw on Thornberry’s (1987) interactional theory to develop a model that

addresses potential reciprocal associations among academic achievement,

school attachment, and delinquency. Because interactional theory is one of

the few explanatory models that explicitly describes delinquency as both the

outcome and a predictor of academic factors, it offers an ideal framework

for developing and examining the proposed associations.

ACADEMICS AND DELINQUENCY

A long line of research has investigated the association between aca-

demics and delinquency. For example, a typical empirical model exam-

ines whether poor academic achievement (usually in the form of low grade

point average [GPA] or self-reported grades), weak school bonds, or stress-

ful school environments are associated with delinquent behavior either

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND DELINQUENCY 631

cross-sectionally or longitudinally (e.g., Bachman et al., 2008; Maguin and

Loeber, 1995; Savolainen et al., 2012). The most common theoretical model

used to explain these associations is Hirschi’s (1969) social bond theory.

Hirschi’s theory assumes that youths must be bonded through attachment

and commitment to, as well as involvement in, conventional social institu-

tions to curb naturally occurring impulses to misbehave. For example, as

school bonds develop and strengthen, misbehaviors are less likely to oc-

cur because youths do not wish to jeopardize the interpersonal relation-

ships that form the core of these bonds. They also tend to perform better

academically because of these bonds, especially the commitment they feel

to their own academic interests and the expectations of significant others.

Youths who are attached more strongly to their schools also tend to be more

involved in conventional school activities, such as homework, clubs, and

similar activities. In contrast, those with weak attachments to schools have

less to risk and thus their base tendencies increase the likelihood that they

will engage in various delinquent behaviors.

Although much of the research on academics and delinquency has ad-

dressed school attachment (or other bonds to schools; e.g., Stewart, 2003),

academic achievement is a particularly important school bond because it

fosters subsequent life-course success. Low academic achievement has been

linked not only to delinquency but also to a diminished likelihood of gradu-

ating from high school, college attendance, and reaching occupational goals

(e.g., Ceci and Williams, 1997; Schneider, Kirst, and Hess, 2003; Sewell,

Haller, and Portes, 1969). Success in school is a principal way to acquire

human capital, which, as some argue, is a key predictor of avoiding prob-

lems and becoming successful in adulthood (Becker, 1993; Lochner, 2004).

In general, low academic achievement negatively affects various positive

life-course milestones and trajectories.

Although less commonly examined, evidence also exists that involve-

ment in delinquency attenuates subsequent academic achievement (e.g.,

Kelly and Pink, 1973; McLeod, Uemura, and Rohrman, 2012; Siennick and

Staff, 2009). Adolescents who become involved in delinquency tend to have

lower subsequent grades, develop weaker school bonds, and are less likely

to graduate from high school or attend college. Although theoretical expla-

nations for this effect are not as well grounded in previous conceptual mod-

els, developmental theorists have argued that involvement in delinquency

weakens social bonds and jeopardizes conventional interpersonal rela-

tions (Sampson and Laub, 1997), which decrease the likelihood of conven-

tional behaviors, such as dedication to school work and reaching traditional

academic goals.

Substantial support seems to exist for the notion that academic perfor-

mance and delinquency are causally connected. However, several stud-

ies have suggested that their statistical association is actually a result of