During childhood the family environment constitutes the basic social ecology in which the child’s behavior is manifested, learned, encouraged or suppressed (Dishion and Patterson
2006). Criminologists have long since acknowledged the association between parenting and delinquency (Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber
1986) and various criminological theories have included parenting behaviors among their explanatory variables (e.g., Hirschi
1969). However, only with the advent of developmental criminology during the 1990s have criminological theories been proposed linking a variety of family factors and parenting practices to specific developmental trajectories of delinquency.
In this study we make use of data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS), a longitudinal study covering a period of over 14 years. Our aim is to test whether distinct developmental trajectories based on delinquency seriousness can be identified and whether parenting styles are differentially linked to membership of these trajectories.
Parenting and Delinquency
A delinquent trajectory, the evolution of delinquency over age, can usefully be described by its level (intercept) and its rate of change over time (slope). Developmental criminological theories differ in the extent to which they consider between-individual variation on these two dimensions. Some theories account only for differences in the absolute level of delinquency, assuming, often implicitly, the shape of the delinquent trajectory to be relatively similar across individuals (e.g., Gottfredson and Hirschi
1990). Others explicitly recognize variation in both the intercept and slope of delinquent development, linking differently shaped trajectories to different etiological factors, including parenting practices (e.g., Moffitt
1993).
A prominent example of a theory explaining only level differences in delinquent development is Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (
1990) ‘General Theory’. Their theory attributes delinquency to lack of self-control. While recognizing inherent individual differences, Gottfredson and Hirschi claim low levels of self-control to result from parents failing to monitor the child’s behavior, to recognize deviant behavior when it occurs, and to punish such behavior (Gottfredson and Hirschi
1990). Other theories go beyond explaining only level differences in delinquency and examine how delinquency changes by age. Moffitt (
1993), Patterson (e.g., Patterson and Yoerger
2002), and Lahey and Waldman (
2003), for example, offer theories that try to explain why delinquent trajectories are differently shaped for different types of individuals. The basic premise of these models is that children differ, whether continuously (Lahey and Waldman) or discontinuously (Moffitt), in key temperamental and cognitive elements that make up antisocial propensity. According to these typologies difficult children negatively affect their parents’ disciplinary strategies, resulting in harsher and inconsistent punishments and parents being less involved in the socialization process. These negative child–parent transactions set a child off on a delinquent path that starts in the early teens, entails many delinquent acts and persists far into adulthood. In contrast, neuropsychologically healthy children with average temperamental profiles, raised in adaptive family environments, are unlikely to develop enduring and serious delinquency trajectories. These children tend to show minor, non-aggressive delinquent trajectories that peak in adolescence reflecting their desire to express autonomy from parental control (Moffitt
1993) or peer pressure to engage in delinquent acts (Lahey and Waldman
2003; Patterson and Yoerger
2002). Finally, children with extremely low risk profiles, experiencing both individual and structural barriers, will be impervious to these social influences and are expected to refrain from delinquency altogether.
1
From Parenting Dimensions to Parenting Styles
The vast majority of studies on the family-delinquency association have treated the family as a potential risk factor for delinquent behavior. Family risk factors include characteristics of parenting as well as other family-related issues such as marital discord, psycho-social problems of parents, and delinquency within the family (Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber
1986). However, research adopting this risk factor approach is variable-centered, identifying differences among families on single dimensions, such as harsh parental discipline, supervision, and control, but not considering how these various dimensions coalesce within specific families. Several scholars have argued that adopting a typological approach is more suitable for studying a complex system such as a family (Bergman and Magnusson
1997). This approach combines aspects of variable- and case-centered approaches in which the whole functioning of the system is the unit of analysis by empirically organizing the variety of characteristics and dynamics of families (Henry et al.
2005; Mandara
2003; Mandara and Murray
2002).
An influential typology concerning the parenting context has been developed by Maccoby and Martin (
1983). Elaborating on the work of Baumrind (
1971), Maccoby and Martin proposed a typology, defining parenting styles according to a two-dimensional framework which consists of: (1) support, such as warmth, acceptance, affection, and responsiveness; and (2) control, which refers to punishment, restrictiveness, supervision, inductive parenting, and conformity demands. They identified four parenting styles: authoritarian (low support, high control), authoritative (high support and control), permissive (high support and low control), and neglecting (low support and control). Parenting styles are configurations of attitudes and behaviors of parents towards their child and create a context or a climate for the parent’s behavior. A parenting style is not considered domain specific; that is, it is displayed across many different situations (Darling and Steinberg
1993). This multidimensional approach may consequently more fully cover the facets of child-rearing and may provide a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of patterns of parenting characteristics on the development of delinquency than single parenting characteristics commonly used as risk factors in predicting delinquency.
Prior Research and Current Focus
Findings from empirical research analyzing whether different delinquency trajectories are associated with different family factors are mixed. Some studies found at least partially different familial etiologies for different trajectories (Chung et al.
2002a,
b; Fergusson et al.
2000; McDermott and Nagin
2001; Wiesner and Silbereisen
2003; Wiesner and Windle
2004), whereas other studies found no or very few differences (Nagin et al.
1995; White et al.
2001; Wiesner and Capaldi
2003). Although many theories attribute an important role to childhood parenting in the etiology of delinquency, most studies focused on family risk factors other than parenting, such as parental criminality, parental stress and family structure (Fergusson and Horwood
2002; Fergusson et al.
2000; McDermott and Nagin
2001) or examined only one or two single parenting dimensions in relation to delinquency trajectories (Nagin et al.
1995; White et al.
2001; Wiesner and Silbereisen
2003). To our knowledge, one study analyzed the link between family functioning patterns and offending trajectories. Gorman-Smith et al. (
2000) found that struggling families (low in discipline, monitoring, structure, cohesion and beliefs) which may be comparable to the neglectful style, were found to be at increased risk for each type of offending, whereas exceptionally functioning families (high levels of positive parenting, adequate discipline, structure, and cohesion) were less likely to be involved in each of the offending patterns. Task-oriented families (high levels of structure, but low levels of warmth and beliefs about the family), which may be relatively similar to the authoritarian parenting style, appeared more likely to be involved in the serious chronic pattern of offending. Thus, although this study covered a relatively limited period of 4 years in middle adolescence, a concurrent link between patterns of family functioning and offending behavior was identified.
The present study builds on research on offending trajectories by analyzing the existence of distinct delinquency trajectories in a longitudinal sample of males who participated in the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS; Loeber et al.
1998). It adds to previous studies in at least four ways. First, the PYS covers a period of 14 years with 18 waves. We use data measured at ages 7 up to 19. Many previous studies applying trajectory analysis on self-report data had smaller numbers of assessments covering shorter periods (e.g., Chung et al.
2002a,
b; Wiesner and Windle
2004). Second, whereas many previous studies conducted concurrent analyses measuring both risk factors and delinquency during adolescence (e.g., Gorman-Smith et al.
2000), in the present study risk factors were measured in childhood, thus before delinquency trajectory data was collected. Moreover, although most theories explaining delinquent behavior by family characteristics state that parenting and family influences are strongest during childhood (Gottfredson and Hirschi
1990; Moffitt and Caspi
2001), most previous studies concentrated on family factors measured during adolescence. Third, we further extend previous research by focusing on parenting styles instead of family factors in order to gain more insight in the influence of multidimensional styles of how parents interact with their children and whether these are linked to distinctive delinquency patterns across adolescence. Unlike previous studies our focus is on a broad range of parenting characteristics, including supportive and disciplining parenting behaviors and the quality of the relationship between parent and child. In addition, we control for risk factors known to be important, such as socioeconomic status and prior delinquent behavior (e.g., Farrington
2002). Fourth, parenting and all other risk factors were measured across six waves covering middle childhood rather than a snapshot of one point in time.
In sum, general theories of delinquency have argued that family risk factors discriminate between delinquents and non-delinquents. Indeed, there is extensive empirical evidence for family risk factors to explain level differences in delinquency. However, whether distinct delinquency trajectories are linked to different parenting styles is still ambiguous. Therefore, this paper addresses the following research questions: (1) which distinctive delinquency trajectories are empirically identifiable using self-reported and official delinquency from late childhood through late adolescence? (2) What are the delinquency characteristics of the trajectory groups? (3) Do parenting styles, which we consider to be composites of behaviors or relationships in which the parent and child are directly involved, differentiate between the offending trajectory groups, above and beyond prior delinquent behavior and demographic variables?
Discussion
Prompted by recent theories distinguishing different developmental pathways and the role attributed by these theories to parenting in the etiology of these pathways, we set out to test whether there was evidence for adolescent boys to follow different trajectories of delinquency seriousness and whether these trajectories were linked to caretakers’ parenting styles during childhood. Using person-centered methods and adopting a multidimensional perspective on parenting we identified five delinquency trajectories and three parenting styles. Parenting styles were differentially linked to delinquency with neglectful parenting linked to moderate desisting and serious persisting and desisting trajectories and authoritarian parenting linked to serious persistent delinquency.
While the trajectories identified in this study resemble those postulated by developmental theories to some extent, there are also marked differences. Within the limits of our data range we identified a minor and serious ‘persistent’ group of boys continuously showing delinquent behavior resembling Moffitt’s (
2006) low chronic and life-course persistent trajectories both in level and age-pattern. Our serious desisting trajectory most closely resembled the adolescent-limited pathway: starting with minor delinquency in late childhood and rapidly escalating to relatively serious delinquency in early adolescence. This escalation process of delinquency seriousness has been described in the literature (e.g., Farrington
1997; Hawkins et al.
1998; Lipsey and Derzon
1998; Loeber et al.
2007). Yet, these boys constituted only 14% of the entire sample, while adolescence-limited delinquents were predicted to be common by the typology. Furthermore, over one in four of the boys reported no or hardly any delinquency during the 10 year-follow-up. Given the high risk nature of the Pittsburgh sample, this is at odds with the Moffitt typology which predicted abstainers to be a very rare phenomenon. Finally, we identified a moderate desisting trajectory with boys showing a marked decrease in delinquency seriousness from a peak at age 12 to virtually zero at age 19.
Given that most studies focus on delinquency frequency data (e.g., McDermott and Nagin
2001; Nagin et al.
1995; White et al.
2001; Wiesner and Silbereisen
2003), discrepancies between our and prior findings and theoretical predictions underscore the importance of considering other indicators of delinquency such as seriousness and offence type. To our knowledge, a group starting young with relatively serious delinquency levels but desisting early has not been identified previously. Notably, despite the fact that delinquency in these boys was relatively serious at a young age, the frequency of delinquency was rather low. Moreover, this group of boys reported very low levels of aggressive acts. Clearly, levels of delinquency seriousness are not necessarily related to the level of delinquency frequency.
This study aimed to analyze whether parenting styles were differentially associated with delinquency trajectories. A neglectful punishing style distinguished the moderate to serious trajectories from the nondelinquent and minor trajectories above and beyond childhood delinquency and demographic characteristics such as socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Even moderate desisters originated more often from neglectful families than nondelinquents. Notably, these youngsters had conviction rates that are comparable to nondelinquents, yet they committed relatively serious offences at younger ages. Our findings are in accordance with results from previous studies resulting in a link between a neglectful style and delinquency (Maccoby and Martin
1983; Steinberg et al.
1994). Furthermore, the neglectful style in our sample is similar to the concept of poor parenting described by Moffitt and Caspi (
2001).
General theories state that high levels of poor parenting lead to high levels of delinquency, while typological theories argue that different types of delinquent trajectories stem from different etiological backgrounds. In the present study we found significant differences in parenting styles between delinquency trajectories, that is, differences between more serious and minor delinquency trajectories, yet parenting styles did not distinguish among the more serious trajectories. This finding is similar to that of White et al. (
2001) who found the same family risk factors for adolescence-limited and life-course persistent delinquents. An explanation could be that parenting styles may not predict delinquency patterns later than early adolescence. While the boys following a moderate desisting and serious persisting pathways are similar during late childhood (i.e., at ages 10–11), with both displaying relatively high levels of delinquency seriousness at young age, the former experienced marked desistance as of age 11, while the latter did not. However, neither parenting styles nor prior delinquency (in middle childhood) could differentially predict membership for these groups. This suggests that neglectful parenting and delinquency during childhood can only partially predict development in delinquency over longer periods of time (i.e., after age 13). This is in accordance with previous research focusing on long-term association between parenting and delinquency (e.g., Farrington and Hawkins
1991; Hoeve et al.
2007; Sampson and Laub
1993).
Interestingly, many of the theories that attribute an important role to childhood parenting in the etiology of delinquency conceive this role primarily as facilitating the development of some stable tendency towards delinquency (e.g., Gottfredson and Hirschi
1990; Moffitt
1993). Behavioral patterns originating in the family quickly become ingrained and increasingly hard to alter as children age. However, according to Sampson and Laub (
2005) and others, changes in life circumstances are able to effectuate change in an individual’s delinquent trajectory, notwithstanding the individual’s rearing environment. Moreover, delinquency during adolescence is governed not only by bonds to the family, but also by bonds to peers, school and later work and romantic partners. Changes in any of these bonds continue to affect delinquent development. Since parenting styles and parenting dimensions have been found to be relatively stable over time (e.g., Holden and Miller
1999; Loeber et al.
2000; Steinberg et al.
1994), for the desisting groups bonds to school and peers may have become more salient in explaining delinquency during mid- and late adolescence than bonds to parents (Sampson and Laub
2005).
9 The transition from primary to middle school and its changing opportunities for new friends and extracurricular activities may have set a group of boys off on a desisting pathway. Wiesner and Capaldi (
2003) found that among adolescents with similar parenting experiences during childhood, low level offenders during adolescence were less involved with deviant peers than those youth who became high level offenders. Other life circumstances could have changed the delinquent pathway of some boys as well. For example, desisting youngsters may have participated in intervention programs.
Among the strengths of this study are the use of multiple informants, analyzing prospective relations between parenting and delinquency trajectories, examining a varied set of parenting characteristics to identify parenting styles, and besides assessing a broad range of delinquent acts combining self-reported and official delinquency data. However, several limitations should also be noted. First, a convicted boy may receive a custodial sentence which may influence the total time that a boy is actually at risk for committing delinquent acts. Prior research has shown that not controlling for exposure time may yield suppressed estimates of actual delinquency frequency (McCaffrey et al.
2007) and may account for much of the decline in delinquent trajectories past peak age (Piquero et al.
2001). Mathematical solutions offered to deal with this ‘false’ desistance, typically require data on incarceration. Unfortunately, official data on custodial sentences were not available for the PYS-sample. To gain some insight in the sensitivity of our findings to the possible bias of false desistance, we tested the five-group model on the subset of boys who were never convicted, and thus did not experience reduced risk of offending due to incarceration between ages 10 and 19. This resulted in trajectories with similar shapes and a classification of boys into similar groups (
κ = 0.93;
N = 324).
10 A second limitation is the fact that the youngest sample has been followed up only until late adolescence and as a consequence we were not able to distinguish true life-course persistent offenders into adulthood. However, the PYS is an ongoing study and a follow-up is currently underway. A third limitation is that the sample consisted only of boys. Both delinquency trajectories as well as their associations to parenting styles could be different for girls. Future studies should focus on girls’ delinquency trajectories and whether these relate to parenting.
Given that we found strong links between parenting styles and delinquency trajectories, we recommend that researchers include parenting styles or at least both elements of support and control measurements in their investigation. The typological approach offers an analytic strategy in which combinations of these parenting dimensions may more closely reflect the interactional nature of parenting dynamics and may have higher predictive value (Mandara
2003). Whereas many theories consider a particular parenting characteristic to be responsible for delinquent development (e.g., Hirschi
1969; Patterson
1982; Sampson and Laub
1993), our study shows that a neglectful parenting pattern consisting of a combination of low levels of warmth and support, inadequate discipline techniques, and harsh punishment predicts several serious delinquency trajectories.
These results have implications for family-oriented prevention strategies in that they provide information on which combinations of parenting dimensions are particularly relevant. Preventive actions should focus on neglectful families characterized by harsh punishment, inadequate discipline, and low levels of supportive parenting in their effort to reduce the risk of youngsters from these families setting off to a future of serious delinquency.