NCJ Number
138396
Date Published
1991
Length
141 pages
Annotation
The relationship between juvenile delinquency and social class, family structure and problems, socialization, and the child's education was examined using data from Project Metropolitan, a longitudinal study of a 1953 birth cohort in Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract
The data were analyzed through regression and path analysis. Results revealed that parents' social class, educational attainment, and attitudes toward education had some effect on delinquency. Family structure had relatively little effect, although larger family sizes were associated with more problems. The mother's consistency, keeping of promises, and setting aside time to be with the child enhanced educational success and reduced the likelihood of delinquency. However, the most important factor in childrearing was the mother's value of education, which was linked causally to delinquency through 11 different paths and was found to have relatively large effects on the child's grades. More parental involvement in education and maternal involvement were also important independent contributors to juvenile delinquency prevention. Finally, motivation to succeed in school and higher intelligence with or without higher grades were also related to lower delinquency. Findings were generally consistent with other analyses of the same data and other studies of delinquency and provided some support of each theoretical perspective considered. Footnotes, tables, figures, appended methodological information, 83 references, and list of other research reports