Research grounded in either labeling, differential association, social learning, or social control theory each provides relatively useful information about different phases of the process through which individuals progress on their way to becoming delinquent. However, none of these theories is able to explain the entire process. For example, recent work has demonstrated that social control theory may be better suited for explaining initial delinquency, and that variables representative of labeling theory significantly predict continued delinquency. In this dissertation I attempt to assemble theoretical tenets extracted from labeling, differential association, social learning, and social control theories into a model that explains both initial and continued delinquency. Analysis of data from the first five waves of the National Youth Survey provides sufficient support for the model and shows that weakened social controls increase opportunities for associating with delinquent peers, learning delinquent behaviors, and committing initial delinquent acts. Initial delinquency increases the likelihood of being observed and negatively labeled. These labels in turn increase the likelihood of future delinquency