Assimilation, Acculturation, and Juvenile Delinquency

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This study measures the relationship between assimilation, acculturation and delinquent behavior among a population of 160 male Turkish adolescents, age 14 to 21, in Berlin, Germany. A self-report survey measuring delinquency, identity, and behavioral, structural and cultural integration in terms of associations, language usage, self-perception, and desire to assimilate and acculturate, was administered through a process of individual interviews. Research subjects were recruited from sports clubs, youth clubs, school programs, prison, probation and parole, and a pretrial detention center from various districts throughout the former West Berlin between 1984 and 1987. The data was analyzed in light of a theory of anomie to determine if delinquent behavior, one adaptation to an anomic condition, is caused by a conflict between the real and ideal self-image. The study hypothesized that this conflict results from strain caused by a conflict between assimilation and acculturation, coupled with discrimination and the identity problems created as a result of growing up in a family whose familial and cultural norms differ from those of the host society.