Parenting and Adult Criminality: An Examination of Direct and Indirect Effects by Race

Parenting practices are among the strongest predictors of juvenile delinquency identified in the criminological literature and have been intimately connected to adult offending.The prior research connecting early parenting experiences with crime, however, has not systematically assessed the long-ter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescent research 2010-01, Vol.25 (1), p.64-98
Main Authors: Schroeder, Ryan D., Bulanda, Ronald E., Giordano, Peggy C., Cernkovich, Stephen A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
African Americans
Anger
Attachment
Black White Relations
Child Rearing
Childhood
Childrearing Practices
Correlation
Crime
Criminality
Criminals
Delinquency
Depression (Psychology)
Interpersonal Relationship
Juvenile Delinquency
Longitudinal Studies
Minority Groups
Parenting Styles
Prediction
Psychological Patterns
Race
Racial Differences
Self Concept
White people
Whites
Youth
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Summary:Parenting practices are among the strongest predictors of juvenile delinquency identified in the criminological literature and have been intimately connected to adult offending.The prior research connecting early parenting experiences with crime, however, has not systematically assessed the long-term effect of parenting style on adult criminal offending, or the processes linking the parenting and crime, by race. In this study, we explore the extent to which experiences associated with minority status influence the nature of the relationship between parenting style and adult criminal offending as well as the mediating processes of adult social bonds and emotional self-concepts involved. Using two waves of a contemporary longitudinal sample of youth, the results show that parenting styles lacking in demandingness show significant and positive effects on adult criminal offending among the Black sample, but parenting styles exert little long-term effects on criminal offending among the White sample. Furthermore, negative emotionality, namely anger, significantly mediates the relationship between uninvolved parenting and adult criminality among the Black and White samples, but depression is also a mediator for the Whites. In this sample, adult social bonds do not mediate the relationship between parenting during childhood and adult criminality.
ISSN:0743-5584
1552-6895
DOI:10.1177/0743558409354215