Violent Behavior Among Youth: The Effect of Social Control and Subculture

Gustavo S. Mesch, University of Haifa
Gideon Fishman, University of Haifa
Zvi Eizikovitz, University of Haifa

ABSTRACT
Violence among youth creuates an environment of intimidation and fear and questions the basic right to safety of young people in their natural environments such as school. This study investigates the differential contribution of social control theory and subculture of violence theory to the explanation of violent behavior. The data was obtained from a national representative sample of the adolescent population of the State of Israel (n=900). Findings show that while both approaches found support, the model stemming from the subcultural approach has a higher explanatory power than the model based on social control theory. Implications for future research are discussed.

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Updated 05/20/2006