An Investigation on Bi-Directional Relationships between Delinquency and Parental Attachment and Supervision

Abstract

Uni-directional models in family-delinquency research are not able to properly capture the dynamic nature of relationships between delinquency and parenting. With hypotheses derived from interactional theory, this study examines the reciprocal relationships between delinquent involvement and two central dimensions of parenting, namely parental attachment and parental supervision. Using panel data from a nationally representative sample (NLSY97), it is found that delinquency is reciprocally related to parental attachment and parental supervision as well. In general, the results further establish the importance and plausibility of using bi-directional models in explaining delinquency and parenting. The results demonstrate that in the relationships between parenting practices and delinquency, child effects and parent effects are both in operation.