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Abstract
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Home observations during childhood and criminal records 30 years later are used to address questions of relative impact among features of child rearing influencing male criminal outcomes. The results suggest two mechanisms: Maternal behavior appears to influence juvenile delinquency and, through those effects, adult criminality. Paternal interaction with the family, however, appears to have a more direct influence on the probability of adult criminal behavior. VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study by McCord was to examine the effects of child-rearing measured in childhood on criminality among adult males. Additionally, this study sought to determine whether the same influences increase criminality at different ages.
METHODOLOGY:
A longitudinal quasi-experimental design was employed. This study used data from the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study which was a project designed to prevent delinquency. The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study included 232 randomly selected delinquent and non-delinquent youth, even though the project was designed to prevent delinquency. The boys in the project were between the ages of 10 and 16 and lived in congested, urban areas of Boston. Counselors began visiting their homes twice a month when the boys were 10 years old and continued to do so for the next five years. The visits resulted in reports about what they saw and heard in the homes. The reports were later coded for subsequent analysis. The visits provided measures of mother's self-confidence, parental attitudes toward son, mother's leadership, parental demands for their son, family structure, family conflict, esteem of each parent for the other, parental supervision and disciplinary characteristics, parental warmth, self confidence, parental role, aggressiveness, parental alcoholism, and criminality. Cluster analysis of the variables resulted in three clusters of variables measuring mother's competence, father's interaction, and family expectations. Mother's competence was made up of the following four variables: consistent discipline, self-confidence, affection for son, and mother's role. Father's interaction consisted of: father's esteem for mother, mother's esteem for father, parental conflict, father's affection for son, and father's aggressiveness. The cluster measuring family expectations was made up of mother's restrictiveness, supervision and demands. Follow up measures were collected when the youth were between the ages of 15 and 22, and 45-53. Juvenile court and police records were collected for the youth at the first follow up. The second follow up consisted of data collected from death records and probation departments in Massachusetts and other states to which the men had moved to. A youth was considered to be delinquent if he had been convicted of an index crime before the age of 18. The data was analyzed using chi-square tests and catmod analysis, a method for analyzing categorical data.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author found that mother's competence, and family expectations differentiated between delinquent and non-delinquent youth. The relationship between father's poor interaction and juvenile delinquency was weak. While the mother's competence and family expectations were important in differentiating juvenile delinquents they were not significantly important later in life. Only father's interaction distinguished adult offenders from non-adult offenders. However, the most important predictor of adult criminality was juvenile delinquency. In sum, the causes of crime differ for juveniles and adults. Mother's competence and family expectations were found to be important in preventing juvenile delinquency, whereas, preventing juvenile delinquency and having positive fatherly interactions were more important in preventing adult criminality. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Life Course
KW - Family Environment
KW - Family Relations
KW - Parent Child Relations
KW - Parenting Skills
KW - Mother Child Relations
KW - Father Child Relations
KW - Adult Crime
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Juvenile Crime
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Crime Causes
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Adult Male
KW - Child Male
KW - Child Development
KW - Juvenile Development
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Youth Development
KW - Male Crime
KW - Male Delinquency
KW - Male Offender
KW - Longitudinal Studies
Language: en |