Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Delinquency: Unraveling Within-Family Processes from Between-Family Differences

Sabina Kapetanovic,Therése Skoog,Savannah Boele

doi:10.1007/s10964-019-01043-w

Abstract

Understanding the factors that predict adolescent delinquency is a key topic in parenting research. An open question is whether prior results indicating relative differences between families reflect the dynamic processes occurring within families. Therefore, this study investigated concurrent and lagged associations among parental behavioral control, parental solicitation, adolescent disclosure, and adolescent delinquency by separating between-family and within-family effects in three-wave annual data (N = 1515; Mage = 13.01 years at T1; 50.6% girls). At the within-family level, parental behavioral control negatively predicted adolescent delinquency. Adolescent disclosure and delinquency, and adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation, reciprocally predicted each other. Parental solicitation negatively predicted parental behavioral control. The findings indicate a prominent role of adolescent disclosure in within-family processes concerning parental-adolescent communication and adolescent delinquency.

Highlights

Researchers have performed hundreds of studies to answer the essential question of what parents can do to prevent their adolescent children from engaging in delinquent activities, including theft, vandalism, and interpersonal violence
The reciprocal associations were examined between adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation and behavioral control, and adolescent delinquency, by separating between-family from within-family effects in a three-wave longitudinal study starting in early adolescence
Means for and correlations among the study variables at each measurement wave are reported in Appendix Table 1

Summary

Introduction

Researchers have performed hundreds of studies to answer the essential question of what parents can do to prevent their adolescent children from engaging in delinquent activities, including theft, vandalism, and interpersonal violence (for major reviews see Hoeve et al 2009; Racz and McMahon 2011). Given the steep rise in delinquency in midadolescence (Moffitt 1993; Odgers et al 2008), early adolescence is a critical period for taking effective measures to prevent or reduce delinquency. To what extent are aspects of parent-adolescent communication (i.e., parental control, parental solicitation, Journal of Youth and Adolescence (2019) 48:1707–1723 communication efforts in adolescent delinquency. The reciprocal associations were examined between adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation and behavioral control, and adolescent delinquency, by separating between-family from within-family effects in a three-wave longitudinal study starting in early adolescence.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion