Buchanan Molly, Krohn Marvin D
Department of Criminal Justice, Marist College.
Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida.
Criminology. 2020 May;58(2):280-306. doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12237. Epub 2019 Dec 30.
Despite renewed interests in the labeling perspective and the impact of official intervention on individuals' future outcomes, scant attention has been given to potential conditioning factors for theorized labeling processes. We argue that, when viewed through a symbolic interactionist lens, variations in the nature of primary social groups, through which individuals filter official labels like arrest, may generate patterns for subsequent self-concept and delinquency that are contrary to what labeling theory indicates. To test our rationale, we offer a moderated mediation model in which gang membership is expected to differentially impact the effect of arrest on future delinquency through an intermediary mechanism: self-esteem. We test a gang-nongang dichotomy and then probe further to test whether hypothesized effects are gang specific or occur similarly for nongang youths with highly delinquent peer groups. Analyzed using Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) data (N = 961), comparisons between gang members and nonaffiliated youths with similarly highly delinquent peer groups revealed no significant differences in conditional indirect effects of arrest on self-esteem and future delinquency; the two groups were similarly insulated from any negative impact of arrest on self-esteem. For nongang youths with fewer delinquent peers, however, arrest significantly reduced later self-esteem, which in turn increased their future delinquency.
尽管人们对标签视角以及官方干预对个人未来结果的影响重新产生了兴趣，但对于理论化的标签过程的潜在调节因素却很少有人关注。我们认为，从符号互动主义的视角来看，主要社会群体性质的差异可能会产生与标签理论所表明的相反的后续自我概念和犯罪模式，而个人正是通过这些主要社会群体来过滤诸如逮捕之类的官方标签。为了检验我们的理论依据，我们提供了一个有调节的中介模型，在这个模型中，帮派成员身份预计会通过一个中介机制——自尊，对逮捕对未来犯罪的影响产生不同的作用。我们先检验了帮派与非帮派的二分法，然后进一步探究假设的影响是特定于帮派的，还是在有高度犯罪同伴群体的非帮派青少年中也同样会出现。使用罗切斯特青年发展研究（RYDS）数据（N = 961）进行分析后发现，帮派成员与有同样高度犯罪同伴群体的非帮派青少年之间，在逮捕对自尊和未来犯罪的条件间接效应上没有显著差异；这两组人在逮捕对自尊的任何负面影响方面都同样具有免疫力。然而，对于犯罪同伴较少的非帮派青少年来说，逮捕会显著降低他们后来的自尊，这反过来又增加了他们未来的犯罪行为。
