The influence of parents and schools on developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviors in Caucasian and African American youths

Abstract

African American youths are overrepresented in the American juvenile justice system relative to Caucasians. Yet, research on antisocial behaviors (ASB) has focused on predominantly Caucasian populations. Furthermore, relatively little is known about how environmental factors, such as supportive parenting (e.g., how close adolescents feel to their parent) and school connectedness (e.g., how supported adolescents feel at school), affect trajectories of ASB in Caucasians versus African Americans. This study mapped developmental trajectories of ASB in Caucasians (n = 10,764) and African Americans (n = 4,091) separately, using four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We then examined supportive parenting and school connectedness on the trajectories of ASB. Four trajectories of ASB were identified for both Caucasians and African Americans: negligible, adolescence-peaked, low-persistence, and high-persistence ASB, although prevalence rates differed by racial-ethnic status. Supportive parenting reduced the risk of membership into the adolescence-peaked trajectory for both Caucasians and African Americans. However, school connectedness was less protective for African Americans than for Caucasians because it only predicted a lower risk of adolescence-peaked membership for African Americans. Findings may reflect the complex social dynamics between race and schools in the development of ASB.

Identity Distress, Parental Response, and Problem Behaviors in Juvenile Justice-Involved Boys

“…Regarding the relationships between parental response and adolescents' externalizing problems, this study indicated that a supportive response was most associated with reduced problem behaviors, whereas a self-focused response was associated with increased problem behaviors. While the first association is consistent with established findings in the literature (e.g., Morrison et al, 2019;Weitkamp & Seiffge-Krenke, 2019), only limited research to date has reported on the impact of a self-focused parental response on adolescents' externalizing problems. This type of self-involved response (i.e., the parents emphasize their own distress instead of addressing their child's distress) may translate into either or both (a) a lack of parental monitoring, or (b) some degree of parental stress, both of which represent risks for the adolescent's problem behavior (Hinnant et al, 2015).…”

“…Generally, it is established that parental monitoring is most associated with reduced problem behaviors (Hinnant et al, 2015; Hoeve et al, 2009), whereas dimensions of parental support and warmth are more closely related to reduced internalized distress (e.g., Fletcher et al, 2004). Nonetheless, parental support and warmth have also been associated with reduced externalizing behaviors (Morrison et al, 2019; Weitkamp & Seiffge-Krenke, 2019). For example, in a sample of 753 adolescents from high-risk communities, Bendezú et al (2018) found specific features of conversation with adolescents regarding daily activities to be the strongest, negative predictor of their delinquency.…”

Factorial invariance in hierarchical factor models of mental disorders in African American and European American youths

“…Third, hierarchical characterizations of psychopathology can potentially unravel more meaningful and precise risk and protective factors in a given population (Eaton et al, 2013;Morrison, Martinez, Hilton, & Li, 2018). That is, instead of focusing on discrete, categorical diagnoses that vary in prevalence across populations, latent factor scores can be examined instead, reflecting each person's risk on a broader dimension of psychopathology that is statistically comparable across racial-ethnic groups (de Jonge et al, 2018;Eaton et al, 2013).…”

“…Third, HiTOP can potentially be applied to unravel more meaningful and precise risk and protective factors in a given population (Eaton et al, 2013;Morrison, Martinez, Hilton, & Li, 2018). Clinically, interventions can potentially be aided or improved by the knowledge that instead of creating treatments for discrete, categorical disorders that vary in prevalence across populations (which may be driven by socio-cultural factors), transdiagnostic latent factors can be focused on instead, given that latent factors reflect each person's risk on a broader dimension of psychopathology that is statistically comparable across racial-ethnic groups (Eaton et al, 2013;de Jonge et al, 2018).…”

Twice Exceptional Students: Gifts and Talents, the Performing Arts, and Juvenile Delinquency

“…Notably, there is a widely acknowledged overrepresentation of traumatized youth (Abram et al., 2004) among youth who are currently involved in the Juvenile Justice System, JJS (e.g., on probation, in diversion programs, in detention). Also importantly, youth of color and of low SES are overrepresented in the JJS (Morrison, Martinez, Hilton, & Li, 2019), and are underrepresented among youth identified as gifted and/or talented (Worrell, Subotnik, Olszewski‐Kubilius, & Dixson, 2019).…”