The Effects of Family Structure on Juvenile Delinquency

<p>Studies show that family structure is an important factor in explaining delinquency among adolescents (Price & Kunz, 2003). There is a lack of research, however, pertaining to cohabitation. The main goals of this study are to determine if there are variations in delinquency between cohabitating and other family types, and to examine the extent to which parental social control measures account for the variation in delinquency by family structure. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) are used for the purposes of this study (n = 4,389). While there are no significant differences in violent delinquency between cohabitating families and other family types, results indicate that adolescents from cohabitating families have a greater odds of engaging in nonviolent delinquency compared to those from 2- biological-parent families, although reaching only marginal significance. This difference, however, is explained once parental social control factors are accounted for in the models.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MA (Master of Arts)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Criminal Justice and Criminology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Parks, Alisha B

• Family Structure
• Delinquency
• Adolescents
• Criminology and Criminal Justice

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2279

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-3380