The interplay of parental monitoring and socioeconomic status in predicting minor delinquency between and within adolescents

Abstract

This six-wave multi-informant longitudinal study on Dutch adolescents (N = 824; age 12-18) examined the interplay of socioeconomic status with parental monitoring in predicting minor delinquency. Fixed-effects negative binomial regression analyses revealed that this interplay is different within adolescents across time than between adolescents. Between individuals, parental solicitation and control were not significantly associated with delinquency after controlling for SES: Adolescents whose parents exercised more monitoring did not offend less than others. Within individuals, higher levels of parental control were unexpectedly associated with more delinquency, but this relation was dependent on SES: Low-SES adolescents, but not high-SES adolescents, offended more during periods in which their parents exercised more control than during other periods with less control. In contrast to earlier work, this finding suggests that monitoring could be least effective when needed most. Low-SES parents might not use monitoring effectively and become overcontrolling when their child goes astray.

Over-time Fluctuations in Parenting and Adolescent Adaptation Within Families: A Systematic Review

“…However, in contrast to key parenting theories (Patterson 1982;Stattin and Kerr 2000), there was also a substantial amount of studies that did not consistently show such linkages. Two studies even found the opposite of what one would expect: adolescents reported more externalizing problems at times or before they had perceived more parental control (Coley et al 2009;Rekker et al 2017). Furthermore, the within-family studies on parental control and adolescent disclosure showed significant concurrent associations in the expected direction but found no evidence of time-lagged effects Villalobos Solís et al 2015).…”

“…However, studies have also found the opposite pattern. For example, parental control was higher in low-SES families (but not high-SES families) when adolescent delinquency was higher (Rekker et al 2017). Additionally, an increase in adolescent risky sexual behavior predicted a subsequent increase in paternal knowledge (Coley et al 2009).…”

“…For instance, dynamic systems theory posits that each system (e.g., parent-child dyad) is unique (Granic and Patterson 2006;Smith and Thelen 2003), implying that parent-adolescent dynamics may have unique characteristics in each family. Differences between families in their parenting processes may arise through (a) contextual differences, such as socioeconomic status (e.g., Rekker et al 2017), as proposed by ecological theories (e.g., Bronfenbrenner 1986; Sameroff 2010), (b) individual differences in children's susceptibility to adverse and beneficial parenting due to personality differences and/or temperament (Belsky and Pluess 2009;Slagt et al 2015), or (c) individual differences in children's appraisal of parenting practices or coping strategies (Soenens et al 2015). Hence, based on these theoretical perspectives, the extent to which universal parenting principles exist can be challenged.…”

“…Several datasets were identified that were used in multiple studies: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (Chung et al 2009;Coley et al 2009;Coley et al 2008), the Pittsburgh Youth Study (Besemer et al 2016;Farrington et al 2002;Rekker et al 2015), the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships Rekker et al 2017), the Study of Peers, Activities and Neighborhoods (Janssen et al 2018;Janssen et al 2014;Janssen et al 2016;Janssen et al 2017;Svensson et al 2017), and The Work, Family, Health Network Study (Lippold et al 2016a, b). Moreover, based on authors and sample characteristics, two unnamed datasets were identified that were assessed in multiple studies, a daily diary dataset (Bai et al 2017;Kuhlman et al 2016;) and macro timescale study (Lam et al 2016;Lam and McHale 2015).…”

“…Additionally, an increase in adolescent risky sexual behavior predicted a subsequent increase in paternal knowledge (Coley et al 2009). Moreover, a large number of studies reported nonsignificant concurrent and time-lagged associations of parental control with various externalizing behaviors, such as aggression and delinquency (Besemer et al 2016;Brauer 2009;Coley et al 2008Coley et al , 2009Cox et al 2018;Farrington et al 2002;Han and Grogan-Kaylor 2013;Janssen et al 2014Janssen et al , 2016Janssen et al , 2017Janssen et al , 2018Keijsers 2016;Rekker et al 2017Rekker et al , 2015Reyes et al 2015). Thus, although many included studies assessed within-family associations between parental control and adolescent externalizing behavior, the results showed mixed findings, even within the same studies and datasets.…”