Abstract

Purpose
The current study tested the links between routine activities and deviance across twenty-eight countries, thus, the potential generalizability of the routine activities framework.

Methods
Data were collected as part of the Second International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-2) from 28 cultures, from seventh, eighth, and ninth grade adolescents (N = 66,859). Routine activities were operationalized as family, peer, solitary, and community activities. Country-level predictors included unemployment rate, prison population, life expectancy, and educational attainment.

Results
Three-level, hierarchical linear modeling (individual, school, and country) was used to test both individual and country-level effects on deviance. Findings supported predictions by the routine activities framework, where routine activities explained 3.1% unique variance in deviance, above and beyond effects by background variables as well as low self-control. Models showed that the effects of family activities, solitary activities, and peer activities were stronger in countries with higher life expectancies. In addition, mean educational attainment increased the effect of solitary activities on deviance, while the effect of family activities on deviance was lower in countries with higher levels of unemployment.

Conclusions
The routine activities framework generalized across these 28 countries in how it explains deviance; some unique country-level effects were found that conditioned person-context links.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2018

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Journal of Criminal Justice, v. 57.

© 2018 The Authors

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.03.005

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