The Social Integration Scale.

The Social Integration Scale (SIS) is intended to facilitate empirical research on the applicability of control theory to many types of adult crime, including "street crime," white collar crime, and physical assaults on spouses. There are five subscales: (1) belief (belief in law and social control); (2) commitment (psychological investment in conventional behavior); (3) involvement (behavioral investment in conventional behavior); (4) network availability (interaction with noncriminal persons and organizations); and (5) criminal peers (association with persons engaged in criminal behavior). Preliminary psychometric data based on a college student sample (340 to 359 students depending on the subscale) show a meaningful factor structure, and acceptable levels of reliability and construct validity. In addition to the full 26-item scale, there are 10-item and 5-item short forms. The alpha reliability coefficients for the short versions are low, but the validity coefficients are similar to those of the full scale. The scale is attached. (Contains 6 tables and 33 references.) (Author/SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** THE SOCIAL INTEGRATION SCALE Susan M. Ross Murray A. Straus This paper is prepared for the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Chicago, IL BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 THE SOCIAL INTEGRATION SCALE *1 Susan M. Ross and Murray A. Straus Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire Durham, NH 03824 (603) 862-1888 Abstract The Social Integration Scale (SIS) is intended to facilitate empirical research on the applicability of control theory to many types of adult crime, including "street crime, white collar crime, and physical assaults on spouses. There are five subscales: Belief (belief in law and social control), Commitment (psychological investment in conventional behavior), Involvement (behavioral investment in conventional behavior), Network Availability (interaction with non-criminal persons and organizations), and Criminal Peers (association with persons engaged in criminal behavior). Preliminary psychometric data based on a college student sample show a meaningful factor structure, acceptable levels of reliability and construct validity. In addition to the full 26 item scale, there is a 10 item and a 5 item short form. The alpha reliability coefficients for the short forms are low, but the validity coefficients are similar to those of the full scale. ********************The Social Integration Scale (SIS) is intended to facilitate empirical research on the applicability of control theory to many types of adult crime, including "street crime, white collar crime, and physical assaults on spouses. There are five subscales: Belief (belief in law and social control), Commitment (psychological investment in conventional behavior), Involvement (behavioral investment in conventional behavior), Network Availability (interaction with non-criminal persons and organizations), and Criminal Peers (association with persons engaged in criminal behavior). Preliminary psychometric data based on a college student sample show a meaningful factor structure, acceptable levels of reliability and construct validity. In addition to the full 26 item scale, there is a 10 item and a 5 item short form. The alpha reliability coefficients for the short forms are low, but the validity coefficients are similar to those of the full scale. ******************** Social integration and social isolation (Durkheim,1897/1951), social control and social bond (Black, 1976; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990; Hirschi, 1969), and social capital (Coleman, 1988) are widely used concepts in sociology and criminology. Durkheim (1897/1951) was among the first sociologists to apply the theoretical concept of social isolation to deviant or criminal behavior. In discussing egoistic suicide, Durkheim (1897/1951) claimed that the more integrated into the religious, family and political institutions of society, the less chance of suicide. Additionally, Junger-Tas (1992) and Krohn and Massey (1980) have found that juvenile delinquency activity including property crimes, drug use, and violent crimes are increased with a lack of social integration. Social integration and social isolation has also been a focus in research on family violence, both child abuse (Garbarino, 1977; Garbarino and Gilliam, 1980) and spouse abuse (Lackey and Williams, 1995; Williams and Hawkins 1989, 1992). Despite this theoretical consensus and considerable empirical research, it is difficult to compare the findings from studies of the link between social integration and criminal behavior because each study has used a different measure of social integration. For example, none of the following 20 studies used the same measure of social integration: Baba and Austin, 1991; Coleman, 1988; Friedman and Rosenbaum, 1988; Hindelang, 1973; *. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Family Violence Research, Durham, NH, July 1995. We are grateful to Sherry Hamby for assistance with the survey construction, administration, and data analysis, and to the members of the Family Research Laboratory Seminar for valuable comments and suggestions. This paper is a publication of the Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. A publication list will be sent on request. The research described in this paper is part of a program to develop instruments for research on family violence. The research was funded by National Institute of Mental Health grant T32MH15161. TCI\TCI2D.P.,13September1995, Page 1