Abstract The present paper argues that adolescent stealing behavior within social classes may be mediated through social control, opportunities, and attitudes toward risk and sanctions. The research hypothesizes that stealing behavior is more likely to be correlated with youth in upper-and middle-class households because of their specific family structure and life style. Data were drawn from a self-reported youth survey in a suburb area in Western New York. The study employed the structural equation models (LISREL) to examine the proposed hypotheses and found that there is a predominantly class-determined pattern of adolescent stealing behavior. Moreover, as products of family class structure, social control, opportunities, and attitudes encompass the basic and substantial elements necessary to predict upper-and middle-class, in specific, adolescent stealing behavior.