PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND INTERACTIONS IN DELINQUENCY

Abstract

DUNCAN, PAMI. Parental Attitudes and Interactions in Delinquency. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1751-1765. This study investigates attitudes and interactions of parents of 2 types of delinquent and normal adolescent girls by means of a revised form of the Stanford Parent Questionnaire and a structured situational interview. The results indicate that the parents of nondelinquents can be clearly diferentiated from parents of delinquents in terms of displaying a higher activity level, less rejection, higher parental adjustment, lower consistency of controls, but higher consistency of feelings. Within delinquent groups, the parents of social delinquents display higher level of activity and are more restrictive in the area of control than parents of individual d~linqucnts. Differences between mothers and fathers across groups are four d with fathers advocating more use of authority, being more restricticve in the area of control, demanding more conformity, allowing the child freedom to interact with the environment, and demonstrating less affection to his child. Explanations in terms of a modeling efect are offered.