The more attached the child is to the parent, the more strongly he is bounded to their expectations, and therefore conformity to the law. In fact, the child unattached to a non-conventional father is, like the child unattached to a conventional father, free to commit delinquent acts without too much concern for the consequences. Attachment to school . Failure in school decreases the number and type of controls and increases the likelihood of deviance. There seems to be a causal chain running from academic incompetence to poor school performance to disliking of school to rejection of the school's authority to the commission of delinquent acts.
High aspirations are more likely to act as barriers to delinquency than as motivators for it.
He looked at the relationship between ability and performance, attachment to school, and parents, teachers, and the school. Attachment to peers . The reason is that they have never developed feelings of compassion and responsibility for anyone. According to Hirschi the difference between a control theory explanation and an adolescent culture model is in the causal order of stakes in conformity to having delinquent friends. A control theory posits the existent of low stakes in conformity prior to making delinquent friends and committing delinquent acts.