Skip to main content
Log in

Growing Up Poor: Examining the Link Between Persistent Childhood Poverty and Delinquency

Journal of Quantitative Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Findings from aggregate-level and ethnographic research suggest that poverty and delinquency are related. The inability of individual-level quantitative research to demonstrate consistent evidence of this relationship, however, has been used to call into question whether poverty is indeed related to an increased propensity for delinquent involvement. This may be due to the difficulty individual-level analyses have in identifying the group most important in uncovering the relationship of poverty to delinquency—those individuals that experience persistent childhood poverty. This paper provides an assessment of the effects of both the level of exposure to poverty and its timing on delinquent involvement using fourteen years of longitudinal data for a national sample of younger adolescents. Findings indicate that exposure to poverty and the timing of such exposure are indeed related to an increased likelihood of involvement in delinquency.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

REFERENCES

  • Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology 30: 47-87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albonetti, C. A. (1997). Sentencing under the federal sentencing guidelines: Effects of defendant characteristics, guilty pleas, and departures on sentence outcomes for drug offenses, 1991-1992. Law and Soc. Rev. 31: 789-822.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, E. (1990). Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, E. (1993). Sex codes and family life among poor inner-city youths. In Wilson, W. J. (ed.), The Ghetto Underclass, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 76-95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bane, M. J., and Ellwood, D. (1986). Slipping into and out of poverty: The dynamics of spells. J. Hum. Resources 21: 1-23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bane, M. J., and Ellwood, D. (1989). One fifth of the nation's children: Why are they poor? Sci. 245: 1047-1053.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn, J., and Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children 7: 55-71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G. J., and Maritato, N. (1997). Poor families, poor outcomes: The well-being of children and youth. In Duncan, G. J., and Brooks-Gunn, J. (eds.), Consequences of Growing Up Poor, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, pp. 1-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S. (1984). Social class, child maltreatment and delinquent behavior. Criminology 22: 259-278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brownfield, D. (1986). Social class and violent behavior. Criminology 24: 421-438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caspi, A., Wright, B. R. E., Moffitt, T. E., and Silva, P. A. (1998). Early failure in the labor market: Childhood and adolescent predictors of unemployment in the transition to adulthood. Am. Sociol. Rev. 63: 424-451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Center for Human Resource Research. (1995). NLS Handbook 1995: The National Longitudinal Surveys, Ohio State University, Columbus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloward, R. A., and Ohlin, L. E. (1960). Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs, Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang. Free Press, Glencoe, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corcoran, M., Gordon, R., Laren, D., and Solon, G. (1992). The association between men's economic status and their family and community origins. J. Hum. Resources 27: 575-601.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, E. (1985). Confronting Crime, Pantheon Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curry, G. D., and Spergel, I. A. (1988). Gang homicide, delinquency, and community. Criminology 26: 381-406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J. (1984). Years of Poûerty, Years of Plenty: The Changing Economic Fortunes of American Workers and Families, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., and Rodgers, W. (1988). Longitudinal aspects of childhood poverty. J. Mar. Fam. 50: 1007-1021.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., and Rodgers, W. (1991). Has children's poverty become more persistent. Am. Sociol. Rev. 56: 538-550.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., Brooks-Gunn, J., and Klebanov, P. K. (1994). Economic deprivation and early childhood development. Child Dev. 65: 296-318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., Yeung, W. J., Brooks-Gunn, J., and Smith, J. R. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of children? Am. Sociol. Rev. 63: 406-423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elardo, R. D., and Bradley, R. H. (1981). The home observation for measurement of the environment (HOME) scale: A review of research. Dev. Rev. 1: 113-145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, D. S., Wilson, W. J., Huizinga, D., Sampson R. J., Elliott, A., and Rankin, B. (1996). The effects of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent development. J. Res. Crime Delinq. 33: 389-426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farnworth, M., Thornberry, T., Krohn, M., and Lizotte, A. (1994). Measurement in the study of class and delinquency: Integrating theory and research. J. Res. Crime Delinq. 31: 32-61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Figueira-McDonough, J. (1992). Community structure and female delinquency rates: A heuristic discussion. Youth Society 24: 3-30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowles, R., and Merva, M. (1996). Wage inequality and criminal activity: An extreme bounds analysis for the United States, 1975-1990. Criminology 34: 163-182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, P., Ng'andu, N., and Ferron, J. (1994). Poverty experiences of young children and the quality of their home environments. Child Dev. 65: 331-345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, P. (1995). Juvenile crime and juvenile justice. In Wilson, J. Q., and Petersilia, J. (eds.), Crime, ICS Press, San Francisco, pp. 91-117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, J., and Peterson, R. D. (1995). Criminal inequality in America: Patterns and consequences. In Hagan, J., and Peterson, R. D. (eds.), Crime and Inequality, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, pp. 14-36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannerz, U. (1969). Soulside, Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Dev. 53: 87-97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haveman, R., Wolfe, B., and Spaulding, J. (1991). Childhood events and circumstances influencing high school completion. Demogr. 28: 133-157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, M., Hill, D., and Morgan, J. (1981). Analyses of the First Twelûe Years of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hindelang, M., Hirschi, T., and Weis, J. G. (1981). Measuring Delinquency, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston, A. C., McLoyd, V. C., and Garcia Coll, C. (1994). Children and poverty: Issues in contemporary research. Child Dev. 65: 275-282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarjoura, G. R., and Triplett, R. A. (1997). Delinquency and class: A test of the proximity principle. Just. Q. 14: 763-792.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jencks, C. (1992). Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R. E. (1980). Social class and delinquent behavior: A new test. Criminology 18: 86-95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korenman, S., and Miller, J. E. (1997). Effects of long-term poverty on physical health of children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In Duncan, G. J., and Brooks-Gunn, J. (eds.), Consequences of Growing Up Poor, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, pp. 70-99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krivo, L. J., and Peterson, R. D. (1996). Extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods and urban crime. Soc. Forces 75: 619-650.

    Google Scholar 

  • Land, K., Cantor, D., and Russell, S. (1995). Unemployment and crime rate fluctuation in the post-World War II United States: Statistical time-series properties and alternative models. In Hagan, J., and Peterson, R. D. (eds.), Crime and Inequality, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, pp. 55-79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liebow, E. (1967). Tally's Corner, Little, Brown and Co., Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ludwig, J., Duncan, G. J., and Hirschfield, P. (1998). Urban poverty and juvenile crime: Evidence from a randomized housing-mobility experiment. Unpublished manuscript. Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

  • McDonald, J. F., and Moffitt, R. (1980). The uses of tobit analysis. Rev. Econ. Stat. 62: 318-321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. (1938). Social structure and anomie. Am. Sociol. Rev. 3: 672-682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. (1958). Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. J. Soc. Iss. 14: 5-19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouston, J. (1984). Delinquency, family background and educational attainment. Brit. J. Criminol. 24: 2-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rainwater, L. (1970). Behind Ghetto Walls, Aldine Publishing, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roncek, D. W. (1992). Learning more from tobit coefficients: Extending a comparative analysis of political protest. Am. Sociol. Rev. 57: 503-507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J. (1987). Urban black violence: The effects of male joblessness and family disruption. Am. J. Sociol. 93: 348-382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J. (1997). Collective regulation of adolescent misbehavior: Validation results from eighty Chicago neighborhoods. J. Adolescent Res. 12: 227-244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., and Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., and Laub, J. H. (1994). Urban poverty and the family context of delinquency: A new look at structure and process in a classic study. Child Dev. 65: 523-540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., and Wilson, W. J. (1995). Toward a theory of race, crime and urban inequality. In Hagan, J., and Peterson, R. D. (eds.), Crime and Inequality, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, pp. 37-54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez Jankowski, M. (1991). Islands in the Street: Gangs in American Urban Society, University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez Jankowski, M. (1995). Ethnography, inequality, and crime in the low-income community. In Hagan, J., and Peterson, R. D. (eds.), Crime and Inequality, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, pp. 80-94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shichor, D., Decker, D., and O'Brien, R. (1979). Population density and criminal victimization. Criminology 17: 184-193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, R. (1987). Deviant places: A theory of the ecology of crime. Criminology 25: 893-910.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, A. (1994). The dynamics of poverty spells: Updating Bane and Ellwood. Am. Econ. Rev. 84: 34-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, M. L. (1989), Getting Paid: Youth Crime and Work in the Inner City, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, M. L. (1993). Absent father in the inner city. In Wilson, W. J. (ed.), The Ghetto Underclass, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 65-75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suttles, G. D. (1968). The Social Order of the Slum, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R., and Covington, J. (1988). Neighborhood changes in ecology and violence. Criminology 26: 553-590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornberry, T. P., Huizinga, D., and Loeber, R. (1995). The prevention of serious delinquency and violence: Implications from the Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency. In Howell, J. C., Krisberg, B., Hawkins, J. D., and Wilson, J. J. (eds.), Sourcebook on Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 213-237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tittle, C. R., and Meier, R. (1990). Specifying the SES/delinquency relationship. Criminology 28: 271-299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin, J. (1958). Estimation of relationships for limited dependent variables. Econ. 26: 24-36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, T., and Kornblum, W. (1985). Growing Up Poor, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (1987). The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jarjoura, G.R., Triplett, R.A. & Brinker, G.P. Growing Up Poor: Examining the Link Between Persistent Childhood Poverty and Delinquency. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 18, 159–187 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015206715838

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015206715838

Navigation