An ecologically oriented approach to youth deviance

In recent years the social problems of youth have been described in terms of delinquency and alienation. Social intervention programs with youth, however, have tended to focus only on the overt disruptive behavior of delinquency. These programs have been disappointingly unsuccessful, perhaps because of their overly narrow conceptual orientation. This paper reviews some of the major theories of delinquency from an ecological perspective, and relates them to an ecological view of alienation. The result is a preliminary sketch of an ecological theory of social satisfaction. It is proposed that common mechanisms underlie alienation and delinquency as negative socialization outcomes as well as penetration, integration, and achieved success as positive socialization outcomes. Some implications of this idea for understanding the behavior of youth are discussed.