Social guardianship and social isolation: An application and extension of lifestyle/routine activities theory to rural adolescents

Abstract

Although the overall crime rule dropped between 1993 and 2000. both adolescent violence and violent crime in rural areas has been on the rise. However, little research has been conducted on the detenninanis of rural violence using targeted regional samples of rural youth. This slydy examines the applicability of lifestyle/routine: activities (RA) theory to a large sample of rural adolescents from Alabama. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that: (1) social guardianship reduces the risk of assault and robbery victimization: (2) blacks are less likely to be assault and robbery victims; and (3) males are less likely to be robbery victims. Social isolation at the individual level is also a strong risk factor for both robbery and assault victimization. The theoretical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed. Copyright © 2005 by the Rural Sociological Society.