NCJ Number
223527
Journal
Criminology Volume: 46 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 341-370
Date Published
May 2008
Length
30 pages
Annotation
Using a sample of 289 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, this study examined the effects of nonshared family environments on delinquency involvement, adult criminal behavior, levels of self-control, and contact with antisocial peers.
Abstract
The findings show that nonshared family environments were not significantly linked to adolescent delinquency involvement or adult criminal behavior. The only parental socialization variable with statistically significant effects was maternal disengagement. Twins who scored higher on the maternal disengagement scale had lower levels of self-control and were more involved in delinquency. Maternal attachment, maternal involvement, and parental permissiveness had no effect on any of the three delinquency scales, the two low self-control scales, and the two delinquent peers scales. Given that prior behavioral genetic research has highlighted the importance of the nonshared environment, the discussion of explanations for the current findings pertained to the characteristics of the study's dataset (Add Health data). Most Add Health respondents were not severely abused, neglected, or maltreated. It is possible that nonshared environmental effects would have their most powerful influence when one sibling is seriously abused and the other is not. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a prospective and nationally representative sample of American youths. Three waves of data that span nearly 7 years have been collected thus far. The Add Health data contain measures collected during adolescence and adulthood, which permits the examination of the influence of the nonshared environment as adolescents transition into young adults. One advantage of the Add Health study is that twins and siblings were oversampled. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 55 references