ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts a comprehensive examination of gender variations, focusing on mediating mechanisms central to social learning and symbolic interactionist perspectives on delinquency. It examines the gender difference in terms of "masculinity" partially reduced the gender difference means that other mediating mechanisms. The chapter focuses on the variables that are most promising as key mediating mechanisms explaining gender variation in serious and common forms of violence and property crime from a social learning-interactionist perspective. It also focuses on "feminine" self-images centering on cooperation vs "macho" self-images emphasizing dominance. The chapter discusses the internalization of conventional moral beliefs and interaction with delinquent peers. The ability to consider a wide range of relevant variables in a single analysis makes the test far more comprehensive than other studies in the literature. The chapter suggests gender variation in delinquency several tentative conclusions that can shape future inquiry.
