NCJ Number
202499
Journal
Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: 2003 Pages: 37-61
Date Published
2003
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relationship between family dynamics and interactions and delinquency, with attention to whether the impact of parental attachment, involvement, and supervision was consistent across Latino, White, and African-American youth.
Abstract
The study used two waves of data from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). This survey provided the opportunity to examine the relationships between family processes and delinquency by using contemporary data from a national sample of multiethnic youth. Further, the longitudinal design of the study permitted an examination of relationships across time. The measures used in the analysis were organized into three domains: delinquency, family processes, and control variables. A general delinquency index was derived from 1998 data and used as the dependent variable. A variety of delinquent acts were included and used to assess the youth's involvement in property crime, violent crime, and drug sales. Family process measures were assessed in the first wave of data and included attachment to parents, parental supervision, and family involvement. Parent scales were derived from separate mother and father attachment and supervision scales included in the NLSY 1997 study. Respondents were asked to describe their relationship with both parent figures, which could include step or adoptive parents, aunts and uncles, or grandparents. Control variables focused on a variety of demographic characteristics. To determine whether family processes had an impact on delinquency, bivariate correlations were first estimated. Zero-order correlations were estimated across each ethnic group to determine whether bivariate relationships were consistent by race/ethnicity. To determine whether bivariate relationships between family processes and delinquency held once demographic and family background variables were considered, ordinary least squares regression equations were estimated. The study found that the influence of family process measures on delinquency was not consistent by either ethnicity or gender. Attachment, supervision, and involvement were all significant predictors of general delinquency for Whites; however, this was not the case for minority youth. For the total Latino group, supervision was the only significant family influence; and for African-Americans, attachment to parents emerged as the only significant family process variable. Once ethnic groups were examined by gender, additional differences were found. These findings suggest that explorations of the causes and consequences of antisocial behavior should examine relationships separately by ethnicity and gender, particularly when family measures are involved. 4 tables, 5 notes, 43 references, and appended delinquency items and family process measures