NCJ Number
203435
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 405-429
Date Published
October 2003
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the impact of familial disruption on delinquent behavior.
Abstract
This study tested a series of hypotheses involving the interaction of family structure with both gender and socioeconomic status (SES) in determining the risk of delinquency. The data source was the Addiction Research Foundation’s Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, based on a stratified, single-stage cluster probability sampling design. A series of logistic regression models were estimated using family structure, gender, SES, and a family structure by gender interaction term as independent predictors of delinquency. A series of regression models testing the null hypothesis that the criminogenic influence of family structure is identical across levels of SES was estimated using a similar procedure. The findings of the study suggest that the influence of family structure on delinquency is statistically identical for boys and girls. Highly limited support was found for the hypothesis that SES and family structure interact in producing delinquency. It is possible that familial disruption has approximately the same net criminogenic influence on boys and girls. Future research should address this issue by estimating the extent to which social control and strain variables intervene between familial disruption and delinquency in male and female samples. The analysis shows that familial disruptions promote truancy only in certain kinds of high SES, non-traditional families. The overall conclusion by this analysis is that the effect of family structure on delinquent behavior is largely invariant to both gender and SES. 1 figure, 1 table, 3 notes, 72 references