Family Transitions and Later Delinquency and Drug Use

Abstract

Changes in the family structure can be very disruptive to adolescents who live in those families. This article examines the impact of the number of family transitions on delinquent and drug-using behavior. Specifically, the effect of family transitions is hypothesized to be mediated by problems within the family, school, and peer settings. A sample of 646 boys (73%) and girls (27%) taken from a longitudinal panel study of high-risk adolescents are used to examine these hypotheses. For girls, little support is found for the direct or the indirect effect of family transitions on delinquent behavior or drug use. For boys, however, both forms of problem behavior are influenced by family transitions directly and indirectly through changes in, and problems with, peer associations. The findings suggest that during times of family turmoil, the friendship network of adolescent male children is also disrupted, leading to an increase in associations with delinquent others and, in turn, an increase in problematic behaviors.

Factors that Influence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence

“…Family transitions predicted membership in both the negligible and early starter/declining group as compared to the late starters. Krohn et al (2009) found similar results in terms of this gender difference in the effect of family transitions on delinquency. Additionally, there was one significant effect for living in a single parent household-an increased risk of being in the chronic group as compared to the late starter (essentially predicting a lower level of delinquency at age 10).…”

Race/Ethnic Differences in Effects of Family Instability on Adolescents' Risk Behavior

“…We concluded that group differences in the effect of instability on the risk behaviors considered can be attributed to variation in the levels of social protection and socioeconomic stress experienced, rather than to group differences in how they are experienced. Recent work (Cavanagh & Huston, 2008; Cooper, Osborne, Beck, & McLanahan, 2008; Krohn et al, 2009) suggests that the direct association between family structure change and behavioral adjustment is stronger for boys than for girls. In models split by gender, we found a similar magnitude and significance of family instability effects for boys and girls, with one exception: the effect of instability in predicting sexual initiation for Black boys was significantly weaker than the effect for White boys in the baseline model (consistent with the pooled model presented in table 3).…”

“…Although a full causal chain has not been identified, various explanations for why instability matters for children’s behavior have been supported by empirical research. These include children’s repeated exposure to poor union quality in the context of dissolving or newly forming unions (Fomby & Osborne, 2008), compromised parent-child relationships in response to persistent instability (Cavanagh, 2008), maternal stress following a family structure transition (Osborne & McLanahan, 2007), and co-occurring disruption to broader social contexts (Krohn, Hall & Lizotte, 2009). …”

Family Transitions in Cohabiting Families: a Longitudinal Investigation of the Role of Parent Depressive Symptoms in Youth Problem Behaviors

“…Most, but certainly not all (e.g., Amato, 2001; Cavanagh, 2008; Fomby & Cherlin, 2007; Krohn, Hall, & Lizotte, 2009; Magnuson & Berger, 2009; Waldfogel, Craigie, & Brooks-Gunn, 2010), of the research focuses on divorced families and highlights that union dissolution places children, particularly adolescents (Amato, 2001; Cavanagh, 2008), at elevated risk for ensuing maladjustment. From his meta-analysis of marital divorce studies, Amato concluded that children who experience parental divorce “score significantly lower on measures of academic achievement, conduct, psychological adjustment, self-concept, and social relations” (p. 355).…”