We examined and compared the influence of home and school environments to the affective (anxiety and depression) and behavioral (impulsivity and compliance) states of 626 African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic adjudicated juvenile offenders. African Americans showed the strongest relationship between their home environment and compliance. Caucasian and Hispanic males exhibited increased home and school environment problems associated with affective states. Among females, African American and Caucasian females exhibited the strongest relationships between their home environment and behavioral states, whereas Caucasian and Hispanic males revealed increased school environment problems related to affective states with Hispanic males showing the strongest relationships. In addition, the school environment was more predictive of the affective and behavioral states of the adolescents, particularly females.Adolescence is a critical period in one's life in which he or she undergoes a significant amount of developmental and personal change, which is at times, accompanied by stress that is related to their personal, social, and educational development that places them in vulnerable positions to engage in maladaptive or delinquent behaviors. Research has shown that specific home environment factors, including a negative relationship between an adolescent and their parent(s) or caregiver(s), poor or inconsistent discipline, lack of parental supervision and monitoring, a lack of positive support, history of criminal offending among parent(s), a lack of parental control and neglect, child maltreatment, and poverty is related to the increases in juvenile delinquency and offending with more serious offenders experiencing R. M. Caldwell ( ) · S. M. Sturges

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived parenting practices were related to and predictive of depression and substance use among 119 African American juvenile offenders. Findings revealed that maternal practices were related to and predictive of depression, with maternal roles accounting for most of the variance. Paternal practices were related to and predictive of substance use with paternal roles and affective involvement accounting for most of the variance. Taken together, the results reinforce previous research in the general adolescent population by highlighting the role of the parent-adolescent relationship in an adolescents' involvement in maladaptive and/or delinquent behaviors. This study discusses the significance of understanding the link between parenting practices, depression, and substance use among African American juvenile offenders, as well as implications for forensic psychology practice and directions for future research.