Family Structures in Pennsylvania and its Effect on Delinquent Acts: A Data Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of family structure on delinquent acts. Specifically, whether living arrangement (with both parents, one parent, etc...) has any impact on the type of delinquent act (person or drug) committed. Data for over 2,700 juveniles who committed a substantiated delinquent act in Pennsylvania were examined for possible effects. Two family structure variables had a significant relationship with drug offenses (one in the negative direction), and one family structure variable was associated with person offenses. Only one non-family structure predictor variable (age) was associated with both offense types.

Domains of the YLS: Do Some Matter More than Others?

“…White delinquents were less likely to have their case handled formally than non-white white youths, which is also similar to previous research (Kovera, 2019;Leiber & Fix, 2019). Finally, being raised by a single mother was a significant predictor of formal juvenile court involvement compared to all of the other parental living situations, which is also not an uncommon theme in the literature (Demuth & Brown, 2004;Verrecchia & Arp, 2015;Verrecchia & Wood, 2017).…”