NCJ Number
212614
Journal
Criminology Volume: 43 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2005 Pages: 989-1030
Date Published
November 2005
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This paper develops and tests hypotheses on how authoritative parenting and collective effectiveness combine to increase a child’s risk of affiliating with deviant peers and engaging in delinquent behavior.
Abstract
In recent years, the most popular explanations for delinquent behavior have emphasized either parental behavior or community factors, with research supporting both perspectives. However, there has been little attempt to combine the two points of view. This paper begins by reviewing the literature on authoritative parenting and collective efficacy, and then presents arguments regarding the nature of the relationship between these two factors. It is posed that both authoritative parenting and collective efficacy function as supportive control, although at different levels of analysis. Predictions are developed on how these constructs combine to decrease a child’s risk of affiliating with deviant peers and engaging in delinquent behavior. The hypotheses were tested using two waves of data from a sample of several hundred African-American caregivers and their children. The results indicated that collective efficacy tended not only to impact the quality of parenting by also to decrease both delinquency and affiliation with deviant peers. In addition, collective efficacy moderated the association between authoritative parenting and both affiliation with deviant peers and conduct problems. The findings are consistent with the idea that supportive control promotes conformity. Tables, figures, references