“Tit-for-Tat:” A Study of the Bidirectional Relationships between Parenting Processes and Deviance in a Sample of Inner-City African American Youth

• In Event: The Effects of Parenting on Delinquency

Abstract

Developmentalists and criminologists have assumed a causal association between parenting and deviance. However, recent empirical work (e.g., Gault-Sherman, 2012; Keijsers, Branje, VanderValk, & Meeus, 2010) has questioned this assumption, based on findings which suggest a bidirectional relationship. Furthermore, most studies examining the etiology of delinquency are based on predominantly European American samples (cf., Bean, Barber & Crane, 2006; Church et al., 2012), making it unclear the extent to which previous work generalizes to non-European American samples. Accordingly, the current study attempted to further build on the extant literature by using the coercive family theory (Patterson, 1982) to examine the bidirectional relationship between parenting practices (monitoring and strictness) and deviance in a sample of N = 10,694 African American youth over four points in time. Cross-lagged structural equation modeling found evidence of bidirectional links between parenting practices and deviance over time. Multi-group analyses indicated some evidence of dissimilar patterns of relationships over time between parenting practices and deviance by sex and by developmental period. Overall, the current study provides further evidence that positive parenting practices are associated with lower levels of deviance, while poor parenting practices are associated with higher levels of deviance among inner-city African American youth.

Authors

• Charlene Harris, University of Kentucky

• Alexander T. Vazsonyi, University of Kentucky

• John M. Bolland, University of Alabama