ABSTRACT
On the basis of survey data, James C. Coleman suggests that attachment to peers may weaken ties to parents: Our adolescents today are cut off, probably more than ever before, from the adult society. The directions of the relations between attachment to peers and stakes in conformity are opposite to those that would obtain if such attachments reduced one's stake in conformity. The directions of these relations are those that would obtain if the absence of stakes in conformity led to association with boys similarly lacking in stakes in conformity. Most delinquent acts are committed with companions; most delinquents have delinquent friends. Indirect evidence of the extent to which delinquency and delinquent friends go together is given by the relation between the attitudes of adults toward one's friends and one's own delinquency.
