Examining the Relationship Between Teenage Parenthood and Delinquency: A Self-control Perspective.

• In Event: The Effects of Parenting on Delinquency

Abstract

Currently, the United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy among westernized countries. Teenage mothers are a unique population that suffer from many social problems including poverty, low educational attainment, high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, and have very little parenting knowledge. In criminology, ineffective parenting has been shown to increase criminality time and time again, yet few studies have focused on the criminality of the children of teenage mothers. The current study, utilizes Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory as the framework to examine the relationship between being the child of a teenage mother, low self-control, and criminality.

Author

• EmmaLeigh Kirchner, Indiana University of Pennsylvania