Arab Youth Involvement in Delinquent Behaviors: Exploring Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory from a Qualitative Perspective

Mona Khoury-Kassabri (), Edith Blit-Cohen, Mimi Ajzenstadt and Lana J. Jeries-Loulou ()
Additional contact information
Mona Khoury-Kassabri: School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
Edith Blit-Cohen: School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
Mimi Ajzenstadt: School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
Lana J. Jeries-Loulou: School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel

Societies, 2023, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: The current study is based on Travis Hirschi’s social bond theory, arguing that the debut of delinquent behavior is a result of the weakening of the ties that bind people to society. According to Hirschi’s social bond theory, all youth have the potential to commit delinquent behaviors, but they are kept under control by their relationships with friends, parents, neighbors, teachers, and employers. These factors could serve as protective factors from involvement in crimes. Most studies of social bond theory have been conducted in Western countries among male adolescents using quantitative methods, including cross-cultural approaches. However, the ability of social bond theory to explain youth involvement in delinquency in non-Western cultures, especially conservative and authoritarian cultures such as the Arab one, has not been widely examined. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring youth involvement in delinquency using qualitative research on Palestinian-Arab youth in Israel. Addressing youth delinquency within the unique sociocultural, economic, and political situation of the Arab minority in Israel will help us examine the theory’s applicability to the explanation of deviant behavior in a variety of contexts.

Keywords: youth delinquency; sociocultural; Arab minority in Israel; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/5/128/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/5/128/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:5:p:128-:d:1148660

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().