Parenting, Peer Orientation, Drug Use, and Antisocial Behavior in Late Adolescence: A Cross-National Study

• NCJ Number: 212340
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 34 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2005 Pages: 401-411
• Author(s): Michel Claes; Eric Lacourse; Anna-Paula Ercolani; Antonio Pierro; Luigi Leone; Fabio Presaghi
• Date Published: October 2005
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined links between maternal and paternal bonding, parental practices, orientation toward peers, and the prevalence of drug use and antisocial behavior during late adolescence.

Abstract

The cross-cultural sample was composed of 908 adolescents from three large cities: 322 from Montreal, Canada; 277 from Paris, France; and 309 from Rome, Italy. All were in the 11th grade in 11 schools. In each country, an effort was made to include schools with students from diverse social classes. Parental bonding was measured with the "caring" scale of the Parental Bonding Instrument developed by Parker et al. Nine sources of conflict between parents and adolescents were drawn from the Issue Checklist by Printz et al. (1979). Another scale measured the extent to which parents knew what was happening in their adolescent's daily life outside the home. The importance of peer relationships for the adolescents was measured with a scale developed by Fuligni and Eccles (1993). Another scale assessed physical and nonphysical aggressive behavior and drug use. The findings showed a strong structural invariance across the male subgroups in the three cultural contexts, implying that similar processes leading to deviance were at work in different cultures. With slight variations on a few parameters, the same was true for females. For both genders, lower levels of maternal and paternal bonding were associated with conflicts, and higher levels of maternal and paternal bonding were accompanied by higher supervision and tolerance. Adolescents who perceived parental permissiveness were more often involved in alcohol and drug use. Parental practice variables did not have a predictive value for physically aggressive antisocial behaviors. Parental conflict was related to nonphysical aggression and drug-related deviance. Orientation toward peers influenced deviance in males but not in females. 5 tables and 71 references