NCJ Number
181576
Journal
Journal of Crime & Justice Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: 1999 Pages: 1-29
Editor(s)
J. M. Miller
Date Published
1999
Length
30 pages
Annotation
Using a multi-site, cross-sectional sample of 8th graders, the authors examined the relationship between family structure and self-reported delinquency, as mediated by juvenile perceptions of parental attachment, supervision, and value socialization.
Abstract
Approximately 500 students in each of 11 public school districts completed group-administered questionnaires in the spring of 1995. The final sample included 5,935 8th grade students representing 315 classrooms in 42 different schools. Behavioral, demographic, and attitudinal traits were analyzed. That young people in non-intact households were more likely to be involved in both general and serious adolescent deviance than young people in intact households. However, when measures of family process were incorporated into the analysis, involvement in deviant behavior was primarily due to the value socialization of adolescents, specifically their neutralization of behavior and perception of guilt. Parental monitoring behavior was also related to lower levels of adolescent deviance, but findings regarding parental attachment were inconsistent across intact and non-intact family structures. Directions for future research are noted, and an appendix contains index and scale information used to assess adolescent deviance. 43 references, 6 notes, and 3 tables