Chaotic Homes, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Serious Delinquency: Differential Effects by Race and Ethnicity

Disparate research has shown that exposure to chaotic homes and adverse childhood experiences are associated with antisocial behavior, but these lines of research have not converged. The current study explored the additive effects of exposure to chaotic homes and three forms of childhood abuse and their association with serious delinquency among 2,520 adjudicated delinquents from a large Southern state. Chaotic homes and physical, sexual, and emotional abuse had differential effects on homicide offending, sexual offending, and serious person/property offending and in some models; these effects were specific to whites, Hispanics, or African Americans. In contrast, chaotic homes and sexual abuse history was positively associated with sexual offending but negatively associated with other serious delinquency across models. Chaotic homes are a construct deserving of further criminological study to better articulate how and why various adverse childhood experiences translate into serious delinquency and violence.