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Assistant Professor, Dept. of Crime, Law, and Justice
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Pennsylvania
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Department
of Crime, Law and
Justice
tel: 814- 867-0217 Email:dkreager@psu.edu |
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Last Updated: 9/16/2007 |
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Interests
Criminology, Quantitative Methods, Networks, Life Course
My research centers on testing theoretical hypotheses as
they apply to juvenile delinquency and adolescent development. I am interested
in examining how adolescent social networks either inhibit or contribute to
individual criminal behaviors. To this end, I am working with the sociometric
data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to locate
teenagers within their peer friendship networks and test how these positions
relate to subsequent behavior.
In addition to my research of adolescent social networks, I
am also working with Prof. Ross Matsueda to analyze
data from the Denver Youth Study. This dataset is a rich source of measures
applicable to theories of rational choice and trajectories of crime. We are
currently preparing several papers testing the underlying assumptions of
rational choice theory. In addition, we are looking at trajectories of
adolescent behavior to examine if chronic offenders exist as a distinct
criminal type and identify any possible mechanisms for such a typology.
Home
Published Papers
Derek A. Kreager. 2004. "Strangers
in the Halls: Isolation and Delinquency in School Networks." Social Forces 82(5).
Abstract
- Although criminologists have long recognized the strong correlation
between a person’s delinquency and the delinquency of his or her friends, the
mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. The current study adds
to research on peers and delinquency by exploring the behaviors of adolescents
isolated from school friendship networks. Data from the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) allow me to identify an isolated
population and test theoretically derived hypotheses. Results suggest that low
peer attachment in and of itself fails to increase future delinquency. However,
isolation in conjunction with problematic peer encounters at school was found
to significantly increase delinquency and delinquent peer associations. The
theoretical implications of this interaction are discussed.
Ross L. Matsueda, Derek A. Kreager, and David Huizinga. 2006. “Deterring Delinquents:
A Rational Choice Model of Theft and Violence.” American Sociological Review 71(1).
Abstract
- This paper examines criminal behavior from a rational choice
perspective, the set of behavioral principles underlying our legal
institution. Using a subjective utility
approach, we specify experiential learning models of the formation of risk
perceptions and rational choice models of theft and violence. We estimate our models using panel data on
high risk youth from the Denver Youth Survey.
Using random effects tobit
models of perceived risk and negative binomial models of counts of criminal
acts, we find support for a rational choice model. Perceived risk follows a Bayesian updating
model in which current risk perceptions are a function of prior risk
perceptions plus new information based on experience with crime and arrest and
observations of peers. Theft and
violence are a function of the perceived risk of arrest, subjective psychic
rewards (including excitement and social status), and perceived opportunities.
Derek A. Kreager. 2007.
“Unnecessary Roughness? School Sports, Peer Networks, and
Male Adolescent Violence.” American Sociological Review 72(5).
This study examines the extent to
which participation in high school interscholastic sports contributes to male
adolescent violence. Deriving competing hypotheses from social control, social
learning, and masculinity theories, it uses data from the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health to test if (1) type of sport, and (2) peer athletic
participation, contribute to the risks of male serious fighting. Contrary to
social control expectations, findings suggest that athletic involvement fails
to inhibit male violence. Moreover,
there is a strong relationship between contact sports and violence. Football
players and wrestlers, as opposed to baseball, basketball, tennis, and other
athletes, are significantly more likely than non-athletic males to be involved
in a serious fight. Additionally, the direct effect of football is explained by
the football participation of individuals’ peers. Males whose friends play
football are more likely to fight than other males, supporting perspectives
that emphasize peer contexts as important mediators for male violence. Overall,
findings are consistent with the expectations of social learning and
masculinity arguments. The theoretical and policy implications of these results
are discussed.
Derek A. Kreager. 2007. “When it’s
Good to be ‘Bad’: Violence and Adolescent Peer
Acceptance.” Criminology
45(4).
This article examines the relationship between adolescent violence and peer acceptance in school. Deriving hypotheses from subcultural theories of crime and violence, it tests whether the violence-status relationship varies across students’ socio-demographic characteristics and educational contexts. Analyses of school network data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health suggest that violence generally holds a negative relationship to peer friendship nominations for both males and females. However, for males, this effect varies by students’ educational standing. Violence shows a modest positive association to peer acceptance for males who perform poorly in school. There is no evidence that race moderates the violence-status relationship. These findings are replicated in longitudinal analyses of a large metropolitan high school. For females, violence has a significant negative relationship to peer status that does not vary by individual characteristics. However, school levels of violence moderate the relationship between social status and female violence, such that violent females have greater numbers of friendships in highly violent schools. The implications of these findings for peer research and delinquency theory are discussed.
Jeremy Staff and Derek A. Kreager. Forthcoming. “Too
Cool for School? Violence, Peer Status, and High School
Dropout.” Social
Forces.
Research shows that peer status in adolescence is positively associated with school achievement and adjustment. However, subculture theories of juvenile delinquency and school-based ethnographies suggest that (1) disadvantaged boys are often able to gain peer status through violence and (2) membership in violent groups undermines educational attainment. Building on these ideas, we use peer network data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine whether peer status within highly violent groups increases male risks of high school dropout. Consistent with the subcultural argument, we find that disadvantaged boys with high status in violent groups are at much greater risks of high school dropout than other students.
Working Paper Abstracts
Derek A. Kreager. “Guarded
Borders: Interracial Teen Dating and Problems with Peers and Parents.”
Race
scholars have long viewed inter-group romantic relationships as barometers for
racial equality, and although formal barriers to these relationships have
eroded over time, interracial unions remain infrequent. Low intermarriage rates
may be partially explained by the informal social sanctions leveled at young
interracial romances. This study tests whether adolescents who interracially
date are at greater risks of violent victimization and peer and parent
difficulties than intra-racial and non-dating peers. Results demonstrate that
strong relationships exist between adolescent interracial dating and negative
social encounters. These relationships persist after controlling for a host of
covariates and self-selection variables.
Implications of the results for future intermarriage rates and public
policy are discussed.
Derek A. Kreager, Christopher Lyons, and Zachary Hays. “Condos, Coffeeshops, and Crime: Gentrification and
This study examines
the relationship between inner-city crime and urban revitalization or
“gentrification.” Drawing on recent urban research, we hypothesize that
gentrification progressed rapidly in many American cities over the last decade,
and that these changes had implications for area crime rates. Criminological
theories hold competing hypotheses for the connections between gentrification
and crime, and not since the late 1980’s have criminologists quantitatively
examined these links. Using thirty years of
Links
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports – Find official crime statistics reported by the nation’s
police departments.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics Page
– Has a description and data from the
National Crime Victimization Survey.
The 2000 Census Factfinder –
Use the Search commands to find demographic and social characteristics at the
national, state, city, tract or blockgroup level.