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37 J. Res. Crime & Delinquency 3 (2000)

handle is hein.journals/jrcd37 and id is 1 raw text is: DELINQUENT PROBLEM-SOLVING: AN INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK FOR CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY AND RESEARCH TIMOTHY BREZINA A sizable body ofevidence suggests that much delinquency can be interpreted as aform of problem-solving behavior in response to the pressures of adolescence. Moreover certain data indicate that delinquent responses are often experienced by the offender as a reasonably effective means of short-term coping. Thus, in contrast to pathologi- cal accounts, it may be legitimate to interpret much delinquency as a form of self- regulation. This article organizes the extant delinquency literature within a problem- solving framework, shows how a problem-solving perspective can shed additional light on the nature of adolescence-limited delinquency, and offers a number of novel research hypotheses to guide future research. The interpretation of delinquent behavior as a symptom of underlying psychopathology has gained considerable currency in the United States (Conrad and Schneider 1992; Peele 1995; Richters and Cicchetti 1993; Sykes 1992). Given the triumph of therapeutic ideology and consequent trends in the medicalization of deviance (Rieff 1966; Sykes 1992; Szasz 1961), patho- logical accounts play an increasingly influential role in the interpretation of adolescent problem behaviors, including chemical dependency (Peele 1995); conduct and authority problems in school (Conrad 1975); and such behaviors as lying, stealing, aggression, truancy, and running away (Richters and Cic- chetti 1993). This ascendancy can be attributed, in part, to two factors. First, the unusual character of much delinquency suggests psychopathology. Much delin- quency is negativistic, malicious, and seemingly nonutilitarian (Cohen 1955). Second, the view of delinquency as essentially nonutilitarian is rein- forced by the results of progressively detailed research on the psychological This research was funded in part by a Tulane University Senate Committee on Research (COR) Summer Fellowship. I wish to thank the editor and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. Address correspondence to Dr. Timothy Brezina, Depart- ment of Sociology, 220 Newcomb Hall, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118; e-mail: tbrezin@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, Vol. 37 No. 1, February 2000 3-30 Q 2000 Sage Publications, Inc. 3 from the SAGE Social Science Collections. All Rights Reserved.

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