Identifying the Psychological Factors That Mediate the Association Between Parenting Practices and Delinquency

• NCJ Number: 220310
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2007 Pages: 481-518
• Author(s): Ronald L. Simons; Leslie Gordon Simons; Yi-Fu Chen; Gene H. Brody; Kuei-Hsiu Lin
• Date Published: August 2007
• Length: 38 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH48165; MH62669; 029136-02
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health; Ctr's for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study used structural equation modeling and data from a longitudinal study of several hundred African-American families in order to test the explanations of various theories regarding the sociocognitive and emotional factors that mediate the impact of parental behavior on a youth's risk for delinquency.

Abstract

The analyses found that persistent exposure to three caregiver behavioral patterns predicted increases in a child's problem behaviors: expressions of hostility and rejection, the absence of monitoring and discipline, and involvement in antisocial activity. High parental hostility and rejection, along with low parental monitoring and discipline, also predicted increased affiliation with deviant peers. Four psychological characteristics in children mediated the connection between the parental behaviors and the child's problem behaviors: low self-control, a hostile view of relationships, anger/frustration, and acceptance of deviant norms. The findings indicate that each of the following theories of delinquent behavior were supported: the General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990), which emphasizes low self control; General Strain Theory (Agnew, 1985, 2001) which points to feelings of anger; and Age-Graded Informal Social Control Theory (Sampson and Laub, 1993), which focuses on attachment to parents and commitment to conventional activities. This study tested these theories of deviance by using two waves of data from the Family and Community Health Study, a multisite investigation of neighborhood and family effects on health and development. The first wave was collected in 1998 and the second in 2000. Participants at wave 1 were 867 African-American children (400 boys and 467 girls; 462 in Iowa and 405 in Georgia) and their primary caregivers. The children were 10-12 years old at wave 1. A total of 738 of the children (361 boys and 418 girls) and their caregivers were interviewed against at wave 2. The analyses used measures of parenting practices, psychosocial mechanisms, deviant peers, and conduct problems at both waves. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 92 references