Biosocial models of adolescent problem behaviors

Abstract

This paper develops a biosocial model of adolescent age-graded norm violations ("problem behaviors"), combining a traditional social control model with a biological model using steroid hormones. Subjects were 101 white boys drawn from the 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-grade rosters of selected public schools, and ranging in age from 13 to 16. Subjects completed self-administered questionnaires and provided blood samples which were assayed for the behaviorally relevant hormones. Boys' problem behavior shows strong hormone effects. Social and biological variables have both additive and indirect effects. Using a biosocial model leads to conclusions which are different from those which would have been drawn from the sociological model alone.