The category of “relationships” is theoretically justified as the basis for the formation of personality orientation, including criminal orientation. The article describes a comprehensive study of the attitude of students of secondary schools to criminal trends, movements, subcultures, including questionnaires, analysis of situations with marked evaluative content of various aspects of criminal behavior, diagnostic conversation, pedagogical observation. The set of methods allows to identify both conscious and unconscious aspects of relationships, to fix their cognitive, emotional and behavioral aspects; measures different levels of attitude (rejection, approval, indifference) of students.