NCJ Number
148418
Journal
Criminal Behavior and Mental Health Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (1993) Pages: 19-29
Date Published
1993
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This longitudinal study, involving a sample of mothers of more than 500 children in an English city, examined the effect of parental child-rearing strategies on the child's social development, focusing on the development of delinquency in adolescence and early adulthood.
Abstract
Child-rearing practices were measured by interviews with mothers when the children were aged 1, 4, 7, 11, and 16 years. The data were analyzed according to two outcome measures: troublesomeness at age 16 and the acquisition of a criminal record in early adulthood. Scales of child-rearing practices used dimensions including bamboozlement, chaperonage, and child-centeredness, as well as parents' use of physical punishment, the child's temperament, father's influence, and family cohesion. The results indicated that, while an emotionally secure early childhood can protect children against later behavior problems, parents must be able to alter their parenting strategies appropriately in response to the child's transition from childhood to adolescence and early adulthood. An authoritarian, dominating, and punitive style of parenting, a lack of negotiation between parent and child on certain moral issues, and the use of physical punishment were found to predict of later criminality. 8 tables and 4 references