Key research themes
1. What socio-cultural and individual factors predict or influence deviant behavior in adolescents and young people?
This research theme examines how family structures, peer groups, school environment, personality traits, socio-economic status, and psychological characteristics contribute to the adoption and escalation of deviant behaviors during adolescence and young adulthood. Understanding these predictors is critical because adolescence is a vulnerable developmental period where social integration, conformity to norms, and risk factors such as anomie can strongly impact behavioral trajectories.
2. How does education mediate or mitigate deviant behavior and what role do structural inequalities play in this process?
Education is widely considered both a socializing agent promoting conformity to societal norms and a potential site for the amplification or deterrence of deviant behavior. This theme probes the mechanisms through which educational institutions and theoretical frameworks—such as functionalism and conflict theory—mediate behaviors of deviance among students, particularly in the presence of structural inequalities related to socio-economic status, race, gender, and cultural background. The investigation of educational interventions thus looks to clarify under what conditions education reduces deviance or conversely perpetuates it.
3. What roles do technology and media play in shaping contemporary deviant behaviors and social control?
The rise of digital technologies and social media platforms has transformed both the manifestation of deviant behaviors—such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking, deviant linguistic practices—and mechanisms of social control. This theme investigates how technology mediates deviance by enabling new forms, facilitating awareness and mobilization, but also enhancing surveillance and social regulation. It also considers how deviant linguistic practices on social media mark identities and group membership, reflecting evolving social norms in digital contexts.