A social learning model was developed that portrayed four processes whereby harsh parenting might be transmitted across generations. The model was tested using a sample of 451 2-parent families, each of which included a 7th grader. Both parent self-report and adolescent-report measures were utilized for the harsh parenting construct. Analysis using structural equation modeling procedures showed that grandparents who had engaged in aggressive parenting produced presentday parents who were likely to use similar parenting practices. The effect was stronger for mothers than for fathers. In addition to a direct modeling effect, there was evidence that similarities across generations regarding the harsh discipline of male children are in part a function of socioeconomic characteristics being transmitted across generations. There was little support for the contention that parents transmit their aggressive parenting practices indirectly by influencing the personality and parenting beliefs of their children.

This paper tests hypotheses concerning differences in the determinants of involvement with the criminal justice system for adolescents who show early versus late onset of delinquency. Four waves of data collected on 177 adolescent boys living in small towns in the midwest were used to test the hypotheses. For late starters, quality of parenting predicted affiliation with deviant peers, which was associated in turn with criminal justice system involvement. Oppositional/defiant behavior was unrelated both to affiliation with deviant peers and to involvement with the criminal justice system. For early starters, on the other hand, quality of parenting predicted oppositional/defiant behavior. This behavior pattern predicted affiliation with deviant peers, which in turn predicted criminal justice system involvement. Further, we found evidence of an interaction effect for early starters: criminal justice system involvement was highest for those youths who both were oppositional/defiant and had deviant friends. Overall the findings support the idea of different routes to criminal behavior and arrest for early versus late starters.

Structural equation modeling was used with a sample of 451 2-parent families to test an elaboration of J. Belsky's (1984) model of the determinants of parental behavior. Results largely supported the model. Economic pressure disrupted parenting by increasing depression and undermining access to spouse-support. Spouse support had both a direct effect on parenting and an indirect influence through depression. For mothers, spouse support moderated the impact of economic strain on parenting by reducing the disruptive impact of depression on parental behavior. Social network support only influenced parenting indirectly through depression. There was no support for the idea that social network support serves to buffer parental behavior against the adverse consequences of economic strain, nor was there evidence that it can compensate for low spouse support. The findings indicated, however, that spouse support is a more powerful determinant of quality of parenting when social network support is low.Research on parental behavior has been heavily influenced by Belsky's (1984) conceptual model of the determinants of parenting. Although studies have been completed on particular elements of Belsky's schema, there has been little effort to test his model in a more comprehensive fashion. The present study is an attempt to examine the major components of Belsky's framework.' The model to be tested is depicted in Figure 1. The primary focus of the model is the manner in which marital and social network support influence parental behavior. The section to follow discusses the elements of the proposed model, noting where it corresponds to, elaborates on, or departs from Belsky's ideas. The Proposed ModelAversive Events and Psychological Weil-Being

Past research indicates that adults who were subject to severe physical discipline as children are often violent toward their spouse and children as adults. This association is usually attributed to modeling or the learning of attitudes that legitimate hitting family members. Using four waves of data from a sample of midwestern families, this study found only limited support for these explanations. Analysis showed that the relationship between childhood exposure to harsh parenting and recurrent adult violence toward children or a spouse was mediated by the extent to which parents displayed an antisocial orientation. This pattern of findings is consistent with criminological theories that view criminal and deviant behavior of all sorts as rooted in a general antisocial orientation acquired in childhood largely as a result of ineffective parenting.

Several studies with older children have reported a positive relationship between parental use of corporal punishment and child conduct problems. This has lead some social scientists to conclude that physical discipline fosters antisocial behavior. In an attempt to avoid the methodological dificulties that have plagued past research on this issue, the present study used a proportional measure of corporal punishment, controlled for earlier behavior problems and other dimensions of parenting, and tested for interaction and curvilinear effects. The analyses were performed using a sample of Iowa families that displayed moderate use of corporal punishment and a Taiwanese sample that demonstrated more frequent and severe use of physical discipline, especially by fathers. For both samples, level of parental warmthkontrol (i.e., support, monitoring, and inductive reasoning) was the strongest predictor of adolescent conduct problems. There was little evidence of a relationship between corporal punishment and conduct problems f o r