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Contributions of Families and Peers to Delinquency

NCJ Number
109982
Journal
Criminology Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: (1985) Pages: 63-79
Author(s)
G R Patterson; T J Dishion
Date Published
1985
Length
17 pages
Annotation
A model explaining the contributions of parents and peers to adolescent delinquent behavior was tested on a sample of 136 male adolescents in 7th and 10th grades in 1 metropolitan area.
Abstract
The model hypothesized that a failure in parent monitoring and deficits in social skills during adolescence increase the likelihood that a youth associates with deviant peers. Poor parent monitoring, deviant peers, and low levels of academic skills were hypothesized to contribute directly to an adolescent's involvement in delinquent behavior. The analysis used the structural modeling approach in the LISREL IV analysis program. The major revision of the model was that the correlation between academic skills and parent monitoring was set to zero. The analysis suggested a reasonable fit between the hypothesized model and the empirical findings. Recommendations for further testing of the model, tables, figure, footnote, and 35 references. (Author abstract modified)