International Summaries: Parental Supervision and Delinquency

• NCJ Number: 98076
• Author(s): D Riley; M Shaw
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 4 pages
• Contract Number(s): J-LEAA-023-77
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This article summarized was orignally published in the United Kingdom of Great Britian in 1985. NIJ/NCJRS international summary of "Parental Supervision and Juvenile Delinquency" (NCJ- 98198).

Annotation

This study highlights the findings of a nationally representative 1983 survey of teenagers and their parents in England and Wales which focused on the association between parental control and delinquency.

Abstract

The study was based on a national survey of 751 teenagers and their parents. An independent survey organization conducted household interviews between June and August 1983, holding separate interviews with the mother and teenager in each family. If no mother was living in the household, the father was interviewed. Topics covered in the interviews were the extent of family interaction; issues about which parents had arguments with teenagers or about which they gave advice; and teenagers' attitudes toward school, friends, parents, offending, smoking, drinking, and drugs. Teens were asked if they had ever committed a range of minor and more serious offenses. Survey results suggest that parents are supervising their younger teenagers in many ways and that most teenagers accept the in many ways and that most teenagers accept the supervision. Although parental supervision was not as important in preventing boys' delinquency as expected, it was a major influence in determining girls' delinquency. A list of parenting suggestions is intended to encourage parents and their teenagers to consider the implications of their behavior for each other.