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Athletic Involvement and Adolescent Delinquency

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Abstract

Athough conventional wisdom suggests that organized sport deters delinquency by building character, structuring adolescents’ time, and providing incentives for socially approved behavior, the empirical evidence to date has been mixed. Based on a sample of approximately 600 Western New York adolescents, the present study examined how self-reported jock identity, school athlete status, and frequency of athletic activity differentially influenced a range of delinquent behaviors. Neither athlete status nor frequency of athletic activity predicted these behaviors; however, jock identity was associated with significantly more incidents of delinquency. This finding was robust across both gender and race. Follow-up analyses indicated that jock identity facilitated both minor and major delinquency, with major delinquency effects for white but not black adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by research grant DA 13570-01 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. We would like to extend our appreciation to Mr. Joseph Hoffman for his statistical expertise and Mrs. Barbara Dintcheff for her data management efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, USA

    Kathleen E. Miller, Grace M. Barnes & Michael P. Farrell

  2. S.U.N.Y. Brockport, Monroe, USA

    Merrill J. Melnick

  3. D’Youville College, Buffalo, USA

    Don Sabo

Authors
  1. Kathleen E. Miller
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  2. Merrill J. Melnick
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  3. Grace M. Barnes
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  4. Don Sabo
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  5. Michael P. Farrell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathleen E. Miller.

Additional information

Research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions and adjunct assistant professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Her research interests focus primarily on adolescent and young adult health-risk behaviors such as substance use, sexual risk-taking, and suicidality. She is the principal investigator of a exploratory study of athletic involvement, gender, and substance use by college students.

Professor of physical education and sport at S.U.N.Y. Brockport for 33 years. A native New Yorker, he has also held adjunct faculty appointments at universities in Finland, Israel, England, New Zealand, and Norway. He has authored or edited nearly a hundred publications in physical education, sociology of sport, and social psychology of sport, including Sports Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators (Routledge) and Contemporary Issues in Sociology of Sport (Human Kinetics).

Senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions and adjunct associate professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Her research interests include family influences on the development of adolescent substance use and other problem behaviors, including gambling.

Professor of sociology at D’Youville College, and director of the Center for Research on Physical Activity, Sport & Health. He has conducted numerous nationwide studies of the links among sport, health, and educational outcomes. An avid scholar on gender relations, his recent book Prison Masculinities (Temple University) focuses on the USA prison system.

Professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Author of numerous articles and books on adolescent and parental development in families and groups, his most recent book is Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work (University of Chicago).

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Miller, K.E., Melnick, M.J., Barnes, G.M. et al. Athletic Involvement and Adolescent Delinquency. J Youth Adolescence 36, 711–723 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9123-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9123-9

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