Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Dissertation (Campus Access)

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Committee Chair

James Nolan

Committee Co-Chair

Jesse Wozniak

Committee Member

Joshua Woods

Committee Member

Amena Andreson

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Family Dynamics and Youth Delinquency

A Sociological Perspective on Family Functioning, Atmosphere, And History

Gulzar Jalal

This dissertation critically revisits several well-established socio-criminological theories to present an emerging perspective on the sociological roots of youth delinquency in lost connections with others. The results provide a cross-sectional analysis of the Future Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). This longitudinal mixed-method birth cohort dataset followed children from birth to age 15 across 4,898 families in 20 U.S. cities. The first study in this dissertation examines the strength of social bonds and the impact of our socially constructed self-image—i.e., the “looking-glass self”—on youth delinquency while controlling for measures of individual impulsivity. These findings lay the groundwork for the second study, which explores the relationship between youth delinquency and the social atmosphere in three living spaces: home, school, and neighborhood. The third study investigates the impact of broader structural inequities, historical patterns in family involvement in the criminal and juvenile justice systems, and the quality of personal youth-police interactions as influences on youth attitudes and behaviors. In total, these three studies highlight the limitations of punitive and personal-treatment models for preventing delinquency and advocate for more theoretically and empirically informed approaches that strengthen connections between youth and others.

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