Identifying the psychological factors that mediate the association between parenting practices and delinquency

Past research has largely ignored the developmental changes within the child that account for the association between parenting and risk for delinquency. We used structural equation modeling and data from a longitudinal study of several hundred African-American families to test the contentions of various theories regarding the sociocognitive and emotional factors that mediate the impact of parental behavior on a youth's risk for delinquency. Our findings largely supported the theories. The impact of monitoring/discipline was indirect through low self-control and acceptance of deviant norms, whereas the effect of hostility/ rejection was indirect through low self-control, hostile view of relationships, and acceptance of deviant norms. These two dimensions of parenting were no longer related either to affiliation with deviant peers or to conduct problems once the effects of these psychological characteristics were taken into account; the impact of these parenting practices was completely mediated by these four cognitive/affective variables. Contrary to expectation, however, these psychological factors did not mediate any of the relationship between caretaker involvement in antisocial behavior and child conduct problems.