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Author: Wittrock, Stacy M.
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Wittrock, Stacy M. |
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Poverty and Crime: The Role of Public Assistance Receipt Presented: Atlanta, GA, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, November 2007 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult Publisher: American Society of Criminology Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Children, Poverty; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Poverty; Welfare Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. The research literature clearly demonstrates that children living in poverty are at a higher risk for engaging in delinquent behavior (e.g. Peterson and Krivo 2005; Pratt and Cullen 2005). The family context plays an important role in child outcomes. Some scholars have argued that poverty affects delinquency by affecting family processes. Research has shown that poverty increases family stress (Larzelere and Patterson 1990). Family stress, in turn, affects parent-child interactions (Hanson 1997; Patterson et al. 1989; Sampson and Laub 1993). Public assistance programs were designed to buffer some the negative effects of poverty; however, there has been little research examining how public assistance receipt affects the relationship between poverty and delinquency. Specifically, research has not examined whether or not public assistance receipt ameliorates some of the negative effects of poverty on youths' delinquent behavior. Using the National Longitudinal Surveys' NLSY79 Mother, Child, and Young Adult data, biennially from 1986-2004, this paper will examine whether and how public assistance receipt plays a part in helping impoverished youth avoid delinquency. More specifically, I will examine whether the receipt of public assistance benefits reduces stress in families, thereby reducing delinquency. The results of this research help to disentangle the effects of socio-economic status and family interaction on delinquency, which has implications for both criminological theory and public policy. |
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Bibliography Citation
Wittrock, Stacy M. "Poverty and Crime: The Role of Public Assistance Receipt." Presented: Atlanta, GA, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, November 2007. |