Investigating the role of alienation in a multicomponent model of juveniledelinquency

Research findings indicate that there are multiple causal pathways to delin quency. A multicomponent model of delinquency was developed to explore syst ematically the interrelationships of psychosocial variables and their relat ionships to delinquent behaviour. Most importantly, alienation was tested f or its ability to act as a core mediating predictor variable. One hundred a nd fifty-two adolescents, 78 females and 74 males, completed a battery of q uestionnaires designed to assess each of the variables in the proposed mode l. Several salient pathways to delinquency were identified. They include en vironmental and person-centred factors. Alienation, when operationalized as a general construct, was not found to be a necessary mediating predictor v ariable. "Societal" alienation, on the other hand, was shown to have import ant explanatory power. Re-examining the model within a large-scale, time-ex tended study could inform programmes for the prevention and early intervent ion of delinquent behaviour. (C) 1999 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.