Exploring Morality as a Mediator of the Association Between Parenting Practices and Violent and Property Offending Among a Sample of Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract

Prior research has consistently shown that parenting practices have a direct impact on the levels of delinquency in children and on the development of their moral beliefs. Several studies have also found support for a link between levels of moral reasoning and offending. Using a sample of juvenile delinquents, this research tested the ability of morality to act as a mediator for the association between parenting practices and delinquency. Results supported the findings of past research in terms of the direct effects of parenting on juvenile offending. The mediation hypothesis received partial support. No mediation effects were detected when violent offending was the dependent variable, but the direct effects of parental hostility on property offending were mediated by moral disengagement.

Keywords

parenting morality parenting practices violence

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Antonaccio

Tittle

C. R.

(2008). Morality, self-control, and crime. Criminology, 46, 479-510. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2008.00116.x

Bachman

Paternoster

Ward

(1992). The rationality of sexual offending: Testing a deterrence/rational choice conception of sexual assault. Law & Society Review, 26, 343-372. doi:10.2307/3053901

Bandura

Barbaranelli

Caprara

G. V.

Pastorelli

(1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364-374. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.364

Baron

R. M.

Kenny

D. A.

(1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173

Baumrind

(1966). Effects of authoritative parental control on child behavior. Child Development, 37, 887-907. doi:10.2307/1126611

Baumrind

(1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 11, 56-95. doi:10.1177/0272431691111004

Baumrind

(1996). The discipline controversy revisited. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 45, 405-414. doi:10.2307/585170

Burt

C. H.

Simons

R. L.

Simons

L. G.

(2006). A longitudinal test of the effects of parenting and the stability of self-control: Negative evidence for the general theory of crime. Criminology, 44, 353-396. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2006.00052.x

Conger

R. D.

Elder

G. H.

Lorenz

F. O.

Simons

R. L.

(1994). Economic stress, coercive family process, and developmental problems of adolescents. Child Development, 65, 541-561. doi:10.2307/1131401

10.

Feldman

S. S.

Weinberger

D. A.

(1994). Self-restraint as a mediator of family influences on boys’ delinquent behavior: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 65, 195-211. doi:10.2307/1131375

11.

Finkenauer

Engels

Baumeister

(2005). Parenting behaviour and adolescent behavioural and emotional problems: The role of self-control. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29, 58-69. doi:10.1080/01650250444000333

12.

Gibbs

J. J.

Giever

Martin

J. S.

(1998). Parental management and self-control: An empirical test of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 35, 40-70. doi:10.1177/0022427898035001002

13.

Gottfredson

M. R.

Hirschi

(1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

14.

Griffin

K. W.

Botvin

G. J.

Scheier

L. M.

Diaz

Miller

N. L.

(2000). Parenting practices as predictors of substance use, delinquency, and aggression among urban minority youth: Moderating effects of family structure and gender. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 14, 174-184. doi:10.1037/0893-164X.14.2.174

15.

Hannon

De Fronzo

Prochnow

(2001). Moral commitment and the effects of social influences on violent delinquency. Violence and Victims, 16, 427-439.

16.

Hay

(2001). Parenting, self-control, and delinquency: A test of self-control theory. Criminology, 39, 707-736.

17.

Herrenkohl

T. I.

Kosterman

Hawkins

J. D.

Catalano

R. F.

Smith

B. H.

(2001). A comparison of social development processes leading to violent behavior in late adolescence for childhood initiators and adolescent initiators of violence. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 38, 45-63.

18.

Hirschi

Gottfredson

M. R.

(1995). Control theory and the life-course perspective. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 4(2), 131-142.

19.

Hoeve

Dubas

J. S.

Eichelsheim

V. I.

van der Laan

P. H.

Smeenk

Gerris

J. R. M.

(2009). The relationship between parenting and delinquency: A meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 749-775. doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9310-8

20.

Hope

T. L.

Chapple

C. L.

(2005). Maternal characteristics, parenting, and adolescent sexual behavior: The role of self-control. Deviant Behavior, 26, 25-45. doi:10.1080/016396290500405

21.

Jacobson

K. C.

Crockett

L. J.

(2000). Parental monitoring and adolescent adjustment: An ecological perspective. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 65-97.

22.

Larzelere

R. E.

Patterson

G. R.

(1990). Parental management: Mediator of the effect of socioeconomic status on early delinquency. Criminology, 28, 301-324. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1990.tb01327.x

23.

Stanton

Feigelman

(2000). Impact of perceived parental monitoring on adolescent risk behavior over 4 years. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 49-56.

24.

Maton

K. I.

(1989). The stress-buffering role of spiritual support: Cross-sectional and prospective investigations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 310-323.

25.

Maton

K. I.

Teti

D. M.

Corns

K. M.

Vieira-Baker

C. C.

Lavine

J. R.

Gouze

K. R.

Keating

D. P.

(1996). Cultural specificity of support sources, correlates and contexts: Three studies of African-American and Caucasian youth. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 551-587.

26.

Mears

D. P.

Ploeger

Warr

(1998). Explaining the gender gap in delinquency: Peer influence and moral evaluations of behavior. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 35, 251-266.

27.

Mulvey

E. P.

(2012). Research on pathways to desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Subject measures, 2000-2010. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29961.v1

28.

Neiderhiser

J. M.

Reiss

Hetherington

E. M.

Plomin

(1999). Relationships between parenting and adolescent adjustment over time: Genetic and environmental contributions. Developmental Psychology, 35, 680-692. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.35.3.680

29.

Osgood

D. W.

Wilson

J. K.

O’Malley

P. M.

Bachman

J. G.

Johnston

L. D.

(1996). Routine activities and individual deviant behavior. American Sociological Review, 61, 635-655.

30.

Paternoster

Simpson

(1996). Sanction threats and appeals to morality: Testing a rational choice model of corporate crime. Law & Society Review, 30, 549-583.

31.

Patrick

R. B.

Gibbs

J. C.

(2012). Inductive discipline, parental expression of disappointed expectations, and moral identity in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41, 973-983. doi:10.1007/s10964-011-9698-7

32.

Patterson

G. R.

DeBaryshe

B. D.

Ramsey

(1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior. American Psychologist, 44, 329-335. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.2.329

33.

Perrone

Sullivan

C. J.

Pratt

T. C.

Margaryan

(2004). Parental efficacy, self-control, and delinquency: A test of a general theory of crime on a nationally representative sample of youth. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 48, 298-312. doi:10.1177/0306624X03262513

34.

Pratt

T. C.

(2009). Reconsidering Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime: Linking the micro- and macro-level sources of self-control and criminal behavior over the life course. In Savage

(Ed.), The development of persistent criminality (pp. 361-373). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

35.

Rogers

Smoak

N. D.

Jia

(2006). Self-reported deviant computer behavior: A big-5, moral choice, and manipulative exploitive behavior analysis. Deviant Behavior, 27, 245-268. doi:10.1080/01639620600605333

36.

Sampson

R. J.

Laub

J. H.

(1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

37.

Simons

R. L.

Chyi-In

Conger

R. D.

Lorenz

F. O.

(1994). Two routes to delinquency: Differences between early and late starters in the impact of parenting and deviant peers. Criminology, 32, 247-276.

38.

Simons

R. L.

Simons

L. G.

Burt

C. H.

Brody

G. H.

Cutrona

(2005). Collective efficacy, authoritative parenting, and delinquency: A longitudinal test of a model integrating community- and family-level processes. Criminology, 43, 989-1029. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2005.00031.x

39.

Simons

R. L.

Simons

L. G.

Chen

Y.-F.

Brody

G. H.

Lin

K.-H.

(2007). Identifying the psychological factors that mediate the association between parenting practices and delinquency. Criminology, 45, 481-517. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00086.x

40.

Stams

G. J.

Brugman

Deković

van Rosmalen

van der Laan

Gibbs

J. C.

(2006). The moral judgment of juvenile delinquents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 697-713. doi:10.1007/s10802-006-9056-5

41.

Steinberg

Lamborn

S. D.

Dornbusch

S. M.

Darling

(1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266-1281. doi:10.2307/1131532

42.

Thurman

Q. C.

(1984). Deviance and the neutralization of moral commitment: An empirical analysis. Deviant Behavior, 5, 291-304.

43.

Unnever

J. D.

Cullen

F. T.

Pratt

T. C.

(2003). Parental management, ADHD, and delinquent involvement: Reassessing Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory. Justice Quarterly, 20, 471-500.

44.

Volling

B. L.

Mahoney

Rauer

A. J.

(2009). Sanctification of parenting, moral socialization, and young children’s conscience development. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1, 53-68. doi:10.1037/a0014958

45.

Walker

L. J.

Hennig

K. H.

(1999). Parenting style and the development of moral reasoning. Journal of Moral Education, 28, 359-374. doi:10.1080/030572499103133

46.

Weinberger

D. A.

Schwartz

G. E.

(1990). Distress and restraint as superordinate dimensions of self-reported adjustment: A typological perspective. Journal of Personality, 58, 381-417. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1990.tb00235.x

47.

Wikström

P. H.

Oberwittler

Treiber

Hardie

(2012). Breaking rules: The social and situational dynamics of young people’s urban crime. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

48.

Wright

J. P.

Cullen

F. T.

(2001). Parental efficacy and delinquent behavior: Do control and support matter? Criminology, 39, 677-705.