ADOLESCENT APPRENTICES IN GERMANY - ADULT ATTACHMENT, JOB EXPECTATIONS, AND DELINQUENCY ATTITUDES

Guided by Hamilton's discussion on apprenticeships and adolescent deli nquency, the goals of the present exploratory study were twofold: (a) to document variation in delinquency (attitudes and behavior), attachm ent to adults, optimism about occupational future, and disposition tow ard aggressiveness among a group (N = 43) of German apprentices; and ( b) to examine the relations among attachment to adults, optimism about occupational future, and delinquency-endorsing attitudes. Questionnai re and interview data revealed considerable variation across all four variables. As hypothesized, attachment to adults predicted attitudes t oward delinquency; notably, this was over and above the effects of agg ression. Apprentices who reported higher levels of attachment to adult s were also more optimistic regarding their occupational future. Level of aggression moderated the association between attachment to adults and attitudes toward delinquency; specifically, reports of relatively high attachment to adults were associated with low levels of delinquen cy-endorsing attitudes but only among the low-aggression apprentices. The implications of these findings are discussed.