Family experience in preadolescence and the development of male delinquency

This study examined aspects of the family experience of 194 males at age 10 as predictors of police arrest by age 17. Effects for quality of parent-child relations, parental discipline practices, family structure, and family problem solving on arrest were found, with intelligence, socioeconomic status, and peer relations as controls. Experience in stepfamilies or single-parent families more than doubled the risk of delinquency that began by age 14, but did not increase the risk for delinquency that began between ages 14 and 17. The elevated risks associated with poor peer relations and antisocial characteristics were constant across the family structures. Effects of family problem solving were found only in stepfamilies and single-parent families. The results clarified the timing and indirect nature of family effects on the development of delinquency.