Harsh Parenting,Deviant Peers,Adolescent Risky Behavior: Understanding the Meditational Effect of Attitudes and Intentions

Although research supports the influence of parents and peers on adolescent risky behavior, less is known about mechanisms proposed to explain this relation. This study examined the influence of adolescent attitudes and intentions about such behaviors. Prospective, longitudinal data came from rural youth who participated throughout adolescence (n = 451). Observed harsh parenting and relationship with deviant peers was assessed in early adolescence, attitudes and intentions were measured during middle adolescence, and risky behavior was assessed in late adolescence. Results indicated that parenting and deviant peers was related to engagement in tobacco use, alcohol use, and risky sexual behaviors. Moreover, attitudes and intentions mediated this relationship even after parent use and adolescent early involvement in these behaviors were taken into account.     

Parents and Peers in Relation to Early Adolescent Problem Behavior

Concurrent and prospective associations between parent‐youth dyadic hostility and adolescent externalizing and internalizing problem behavior were examined in a sample of 416 families. Parenting control, parents’ well‐being, and youths’ affiliation with deviant peers were included as integral covariates. Information from multiple sources was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Concurrently, youth externalizing problems were associated with dyadic hostility, deviant peers, inadequate parenting control, and fathers’ well‐being (inversely). Internalizing problems were associated with inadequate parenting control and lower levels of fathers’ well‐being. Prospectively, some of these relations continued over 2 years, with a few new associations emerging. A process model is proposed in which parent‐youth dyadic hostility during early adolescence influences parenting, peer relations, and parents’ well‐being over time.     

Friendship Quality,Peer Group Affiliation,and Peer Antisocial Behavior as Moderators of the Link Between Negative Parenting and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

Quality of peer relationships and perceived peer antisocial behavior were examined as moderators of the link between negative parenting and externalizing behavior problems in school from middle childhood to early adolescence. Data on negative parenting (i.e., unilateral parental decision making, low supervision and awareness, and harsh discipline) were collected from 362 parents in the summer preceding the adolescents' entry into Grade 6. Adolescent reports of positive peer relationships and peer antisocial behavior were assessed in the winter of Grade 7. The outcome measure was teacher report of adolescent externalizing behavior in the spring of Grade 7, controlling for externalizing behavior in Grade 5. High levels of friendship quality and peer group affiliation attenuated the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior in school; this was particularly true when adolescents associated with peers perceived to be low in antisocial behavior. In addition, having low‐quality peer relationships and having peers perceived to be highly antisocial further amplified the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior problems. Finally, high levels of friend and peer group antisocial behavior exacerbated the predictiveness of harsh discipline for adolescents' externalizing behavior.     

Deviant Peer Behavior and Adolescent Delinquency: Protective Effects of Inhibitory Control,Planning, or Decision Making?

We examined relations between adolescent perceptions of deviant peer behavior and delinquency as moderated by inhibitory control, planning, and decision making in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development at age 15 (N = 991). Adolescents reported perceptions of deviant peer behavior. Inhibitory control, planning, and decision making were assessed behaviorally. Delinquency was evaluated with a latent variable comprised of parent‐guardian perceptions of adolescent delinquency and adolescent self‐reports. Only inhibitory control moderated the relationship between deviant peer behavior and delinquency, showing that better inhibition protected against delinquency in contexts of high levels of adolescent perceptions of deviant peer behavior. Findings are discussed in the context of theories of adolescent delinquency and risk taking.     

The Relation between Parental Constructive Behavior and Adolescent Association with Achievement-Oriented Peers: A Longitudinal Study

There is abundant research about the negative influences of peer groups and other factors contributing to adolescent involvement with deviant peers. This study used three waves of panel data to investigate the relation between parental constructive behavior and adolescent association with achievement-oriented peers. Parental constructive behavior was found to be positively related to adolescents'own achievement orientation a year later, which in turn was positively related to the perceived achievement orientation of friends two years later. However, adolescents'own achievement orientation did not completely mediate the effect of parental constructive behavior on the perceived achievement orientation of friends. Furthermore, after the prior perceived achievement orientation of friends was added into the model, parental constructive behavior still had a direct effect on the perceived achievement orientation of friends over time. Parental constructive behavior contributed to the affiliation with achievement-oriented friends above and beyond the effects of adolescents'own achievement orientation and their prior peer affiliation.     

Developmental Shifts in Parent and Peer Influences on Boys' Beliefs About Delinquent Behavior

This paper examines the relative shifts in parent and peer influences on the development of boys' beliefs regarding delinquency from early to middle adolescence. The paper also explores the influence that beliefs about delinquency have on subsequent changes in these social relationships. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze six annual waves of data for 481 boys from the youngest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Increased parent–adolescent conflict only predicted changes in beliefs about delinquency in early adolescence, while increases in peer delinquency was associated with adopting more tolerant beliefs about delinquent acts from early to middle adolescence. Changes in boys' delinquent peer group association were initially influenced by increased family conflict. However, in middle adolescence increasingly tolerant beliefs about delinquency were related to subsequent increases in delinquent peers. The potential implications for preventing the formation of beliefs favoring delinquency during adolescence are discussed.     

Deviant Peers and Adolescent Risky Behaviors: The Protective Effect of Nonverbal Display of Parental Warmth

This study examines whether nonverbal displays of parents’ warmth during an in‐lab conflict discussion mitigate the links between affiliation with deviant peers and risky behaviors. A sample of 107 youth and their parents participated in a study spanning from mid‐adolescence (T1) to late adolescence (T2). At T1, family members discussed a contentious issue, which was coded for parents’ nonverbal warmth. At T1 and T2, youth reported on their friends’ and their own risky behaviors. Fathers’ warmth moderated each prospective association between deviant peers and risky behaviors. Mothers’ warmth did not emerge as a significant moderator. Girls, in particular, benefitted from fathers’ warmth as a buffer in the trajectory from T1 risky behaviors to T2 risky behaviors and deviant peers.     

Maternal experiences of intimate partner violence and adolescent delinquency: Pathways through parenting stress and harsh parenting behaviors

Abstract

Women with children in the home are more likely to report experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to women without children in the home. Consistently, research has identified an association between maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency. While research has suggested that this link may be explained through parenting factors, there are limited studies exploring sequential mediators that may explain how maternal experiences of IPV are related to distal outcomes, such as adolescent delinquency. The present study investigated mechanisms that might explain the association between early maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency. Data were collected as part of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal birth cohort study. Using a structural equation modeling approach, parenting stress and both physically and psychologically harsh parenting behaviors were examined as sequential mediators in the association between the latent construct of maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency. Findings supported one sequential mediation mechanism: maternal parenting stress at child age five and psychologically harsh parenting at child age nine mediated the association between maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency at child age 15. In contrast, support was not demonstrated for the other proposed sequential mediation mechanism: maternal parenting stress at child age five and physically aggressive parenting at year nine did not mediate the link between maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency child age 15. The present study suggests maternal parenting stress and psychologically harsh parenting behaviors should be examined when referred for psychological services for experiences of IPV.     

Cultivating Conformists or Raising Rebels? Connecting Parental Control and Autonomy Support to Adolescent Delinquency

This study investigates short‐term and long‐term associations between parenting in early adolescence and delinquency throughout adolescence using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys. Multilevel longitudinal Poisson regressions show that behavioral control, psychological control, and decision‐making autonomy in early adolescence (ages 10–11) are associated with delinquency trajectories throughout adolescence (ages 10–17). Path analyses reveal support for three mediation hypotheses. Parental monitoring (behavioral control) is negatively associated with delinquency in the short term and operates partly through changes in self‐control. Parental pressure (psychological control) shows immediate and long‐lasting associations with delinquency through changes in self‐control and delinquent peer pressures. Decision‐making autonomy is negatively associated with delinquency in the long term, yet may exacerbate delinquency in early adolescence by increasing exposure to delinquent peers.     

Going Along to Get Along? Interpersonal Processes and Girls' Delinquency

Although social development research indicates that affiliation with delinquent peers predicts adolescent delinquent behavior, less is known about how peer relationships may impact girls' delinquent behavior differently than boys' behavior. To address this gap, this study examines adjudicated girls' perceptions of how their peer relationships impacted their decisions to engage in delinquency. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, a sample of eight adjudicated girls shared their perceptions of how same-gender friendships, opposite-gender non-romantic friendships, and opposite-gender romantic relationships influenced their choices to enact delinquent behavior. The study findings offer important implications for designing future gender-specific programming to prevent and/or reduce girls' delinquency.     

Developmental Precursors of Number of Sexual Partners From Ages 16 to 22

This study examines family and child characteristics, parent and peer relationships, and early adolescent behavior as statistical predictors of trajectories of number of sexual partners from midadolescence through early adulthood using data from 527 participants in the Child Development Project. Early adolescent developmental antecedents accounted for modest variance in number of sexual partners. Latent growth models revealed that African American race, more advanced pubertal development, lower parental monitoring knowledge, association with more deviant peers, and lower grade point average in early adolescence each predicted having more sexual partners at age 16. In addition, non‐African American race, lower child IQ, higher parental monitoring knowledge, and lower early adolescent internalizing problems each was associated with a higher rate of growth in number of sexual partners over time at the ages following 16. Latent growth mixture modeling identified subgroups with distinct trajectories of involvement with sexual partners that were associated with family and child characteristics, parent and peer relationships, and behavior in early adolescence.     

Adolescent sexual behavior—family characteristics,parental involvement,and associated mental disorders

Abstract

Manifold factors connect with adolescent sexual behavior, but studies on their reciprocal associations are scarce. This study seeks to find the ways in which parental involvement, family characteristics, depression, and delinquency are connected to adolescent early/risky sexual behavior, and to what extent they modify each other. A population-based self-report survey of nearly 187,000 adolescents (50.4% girls) was used. The most important of the family variables was living in a two-parent family, which showed the clearest inverse association with early/risky sexual behavior throughout adolescence. Depression and delinquency persisted associated with sexual behavior in the presence of the family variables.     

Sexual abuse,family violence,and female delinquency: findings from a longitudinal study

The current study examines the effects of three forms of childhood victimization on self-reported delinquency and aggression in adolescent girls. These analyses are based on a longitudinal sample of 141 mother-daughter pairs participating in a study about marital violence and child development. When the children were school aged, mothers and children provided reports describing (a) child exposure to marital violence, (b) escalated physical abuse against the child, and (c) child sexual abuse. Children were followed up into adolescence and re-interviewed. Self-reports of delinquency (violent and nonviolent), running away, and violence against parents were collected. Results indicate that out of the three forms of victimization, child sexual abuse emerged as the strongest predictor of girls' violent and nonviolent criminal behavior. Girls with a history of physical abuse in childhood were most likely to assault their parents. Witnessing marital violence failed to contribute further to delinquency, beyond the adverse association with childhood sexual abuse. Findings highlight a unique avenue for delinquency in girls via childhood sexual exploitation.     

Understanding Links Between Punitive Parenting and Adolescent Adjustment: The Relevance of Context and Reciprocal Associations

There is considerable debate regarding the extent to which punitive parenting adversely impacts youth well‐being. Using an ecological–transactional model of human development, we examined reciprocity and contextual variability in associations between maternal punitive discipline and adolescent adjustment among 1,147 low‐income, urban youth followed through adolescence. Longitudinal structural equation modeling results indicated that delinquency and depressive symptoms during pre‐ and early adolescence (Time 1) were associated with increased punitive discipline about a year later (Time 2). When mothers reported less Time 2 neighborhood disorder, punitive discipline at Time 2 was associated with increased delinquency (for boys) and depressive symptoms (for girls) during mid‐ to late adolescence (Time 3). The costs of punitive discipline for adolescent adjustment are best understood considering the dynamic, transactional, and contextual nature of development.     

Father Absence and Adolescent Depression and Delinquency: A Comparison of Siblings Approach

Although associations between having a nonresident father and increased internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence have been well documented, research has yet to establish the plausible causality of these links or identify underlying mechanisms. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 ‐ Young Adult survey, this study addresses these questions by comparing the depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior of siblings discordant for age at father departure. Findings indicate that father departure later in childhood is associated with increased adolescent delinquency but not depressive symptoms, whereas early childhood father departure was not associated with adolescent outcomes. Both findings suggests that parental monitoring—rather than socialization or emotional distress—may account for links between father departure and adolescent delinquency.     

Juvenile Delinquency Under Conditions of Rapid Social Change

Increased juvenile delinquency can be seen as an indicator for a deteriorating social fabric under conditions of rapid social change. Criminological theories suggest, however, that such conditions do not per se produce delinquency: They force youth into prodelinquent leisure activities with peers, leading to an endorsement of delinquent behavior and offering the infrastructure for it. Resources acquired in family and public life, however, may prevent youth from drifting into such prodelinquent leisure activities and indirectly from delinquent behavior. Empirical tests of these hypotheses have to employ simultaneous analyses of societal-level and individual-level data. On the basis of an international youth study, the paper undertakes such an analysis: In the years 1992–95, data from 42 independent samples of seventh graders from East and West Germany, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, and Greece were surveyed. Data on deviant school behavior, delinquent drift, nurturant parenting, and subjective feelings of justice in public were obtained from 7282 thirteen- to fourteen-year-olds. Processes of rapid social change were incorporated as data on changes in GNP in the years proceeding the surveys. Analyses show that delinquent drift is a valid predictor of deviant school behavior only on the individual level. The extent to which adolescents engage in prodelinquent peer activities depends more on the cultural context in which adolescents live than on their personal experience in the family and in public. Nurturant parenting does, however, covary negatively with deviant school behavior irrespective of level of analysis.     

Delinquent and aggressive behaviors in early-adopted adolescents: Longitudinal predictions from child temperament and maternal sensitivity

Background

160 early-adopted children were followed from infancy to adolescence. Central question was whether early and concurrent parenting and child temperament predicted adolescent delinquent and aggressive behaviors.

Methods

Structural equation modeling was used to test the relations between early and concurrent observed maternal sensitivity, mother reported effortful control and teacher reported delinquent and aggressive behaviors.

Results

This longitudinal adoption study showed that lower effortful control, concurrent as well as 7 years earlier, predicted higher levels of delinquency in adolescence and aggression in middle childhood and in adolescence. Lower levels of effortful control in infancy predicted higher levels of maternal sensitivity in adolescence which in its turn predicted less adolescent delinquent behavior.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that effortful control is an important predictor of both aggressive and delinquent behaviors. Maternal sensitivity also plays a role in the development of delinquent behavior, buffering a lack of effortful control, but is not related to aggression at age 14. It is important to note that these relations were found in a sample of parents and their genetically unrelated adopted children.     

Assimilation Choices Among Immigrant Families: Does School Context Matter?

This article explores the relationship between social context, measured in terms of school characteristics, and the assimilation of immigrant adolescents. First, it develops a measure of assimilation based on comparing immigrant adolescents to native peers within the same school. Second, it investigates whether immigrant adolescents’ degree of assimilation varies systematically according to school socioeconomic status (SES). Third, it explores the role of parental and adolescent behavior in creating such variation. Results show that both Asian and Hispanic immigrant youth are less assimilated to native youths’ substance use and delinquency patterns in lower‐SES schools. This association can be explained by parenting behaviors and adolescent friendship choices for Asian youth, but not Hispanic youth.     

Great Expectations Unmet: The Impact of Adolescent Educational Expectations on Deviant Coping During the Transition to Adulthood

Previous research has shown that during adolescence, holding high expectations of college education serves as a protective factor for delinquency and substance use. Little is known whether the protective factor of college expectations extends into young adulthood, especially among ambitious youth who do not earn a degree. Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this research focuses on the longer term effects of adolescent educational expectations on deviant coping. This study finds that failing to realize realistically high expectations of college education during the transition to adulthood increases an individual's likelihood of deviant coping during the transition to adulthood.     

Residential Mobility and Adolescent Achievement and Behavior: Understanding Timing and Extent of Mobility

Residential mobility is generally viewed as an adverse event for adolescents' development. Less is known about whether moving during adolescence, childhood, or both periods explains this connection and whether the extent of mobility matters. Analytic shortcomings with much of the research call into question extant findings. We examined associations between childhood, adolescent, and child–adolescent mobility and adolescents' achievement (math and reading) and behavior problems (internalizing and externalizing). With a multisite, longitudinal sample (N = 1,056), we employed propensity score methods, which mitigate concerns about selection bias on observed variables, to investigate relationships. Results suggest that multiple, child–adolescent movers had more internalizing problems in adolescence than their stable peers, but did not differ on externalizing problems or achievement.