Schools and Delinquency

by Denise C. Gottfredson

• ISBN13: 9780521626293
• ISBN10: 0521626293
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-11-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Schools and Delinquency provides a comprehensive review and critique of the current research about the causes of delinquency, substance use, drop-out, and truancy, and the role of the school in preventing these behavior patterns. Examining school-based prevention programs and practices for grades K-12, Denise Gottfredson identifies a broad array of effective strategies improving the school environment, as well as some that specifically target youths at risk of developing problem behaviors. She also explains why several popular school-based prevention strategies are ineffective and should be abandoned. Gottfredson analyzes, within the larger context of the community, the special challenges to effective prevention programming that arise in disorganized settings, identifying ways to overcome these obstacles and to make the most troubled schools safer and more productive environments.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figure	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
School's Potential as a Location for Delinquency Prevention	1	(24)
Definition of Delinquency	4	(1)
Rates of Delinquency	4	(10)
Delinquency and Being in School	14	(9)
Overview of the Book	23	(2)
School-Related Individual Characteristics, Attitudes, and Experiences	25	(37)
Correlates and Antecedents of Problem Behavior	25	(1)
Risk Factors for Problem Behavior	26	(11)
Personality Structure and Problem Behavior	37	(8)
Theories of Crime Causation	45	(14)
Conclusions	59	(3)
School Effects	62	(30)
Schools Embedded in Communities	63	(2)
Studying Contextual Effects	65	(3)
School Effects Research	68	(22)
A Note on Externally Determined Factors	90	(1)
Implications for Practice	90	(2)
Field Studies of School-Based Prevention: An Overview	92	(15)
Correlation versus Causality	92	(2)
Methods	94	(10)
The Studies	104	(3)
Changing School and Classroom Environments: The Field Studies	107	(54)
Overview of Studies	107	(2)
Studies of Programs in Elementary Schools	109	(23)
Studies of Programs in Middle and Junior High Schools	132	(15)
Studies of Programs in Senior High Schools	147	(7)
Alternative Schools	154	(1)
Size and Durability of Effects	155	(1)
Conclusions	156	(5)
Changing Student Personality, Attitudes, and Beliefs: The Field Studies	161	(70)
Overview of Studies	162	(1)
Studies of Programs in Elementary Schools	162	(22)
Studies of Programs in Middle and Junior High Schools	184	(33)
Studies of Programs in Senior High Schools	217	(7)
Size and Durability of Effects	224	(2)
Conclusions	226	(5)
Lost in Translation: Why Doesn't School-Based Prevention Work as Well as It Should?	231	(27)
Generalizability of Research Findings	232	(4)
Correlates of Quality of Program Implementation	236	(6)
Change in Urban Schools: A Special Case	242	(14)
Summary	256	(2)
Where Do We Go from Here?	258	(21)
The Practice of School-Based Prevention	258	(11)
Future Research	269	(10)
References	279	(28)
Author Index	307	(7)
Subject Index	314