An Empirical Test of Differential Association Theory *

are most delinquent offenses committed in groups but that most lone offenders are influenced by companions.’ Somewhat later, Shaw and Meyer2 and Shaw and 11cKay3 estimated the extent to which juvenile delinquency is group activity, showing that less than 20 percent are lone offenders in juvenile court samples. Shaw and 1~’IcKay also showed that the modal size of offending groups is two and three participants, and that not all group delinquency is committed by well organized gangs.4 4 More recently Enyon and Reckless demonstrated that companionship is usually present at the onset of admitted delinquency as well as in officially recorded delinquency.5 These studies for the United States and similar ones in other countries clearly establish that