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Abstract

Research has demonstrated the stability of juvenile offending during childhood and adolescence but generally has not focused on the continuity of family interactions associated with juvenile offending. The present report focused on the stability of several family interaction events and attributes (i.e., physical punishment, communication, supervision, positive parenting, and parent-child relationship) for a large sample of male adolescents and their primary caretakers, drawn from a multiyear longitudinal study that represented middle childhood through late adolescence (ages 6-18). We also assessed the impact of ethnicity, family composition, teenage motherhood, and youth delinquency on these interactions. Test-retest correlations and growth-curve analyses were used to assess relative and absolute stability of the interactions, respectively. As predicted, relative stability of family interaction was high. There was an absolute change in scores of physical punishment (decreased) compared to poor supervision and low positive parenting (both increased), whereas poor communication and bad relationship with the caretaker did not measurably change with age. Single-parent families and families with teenage mothers experienced significantly worse interactions over time than did families consisting of two biological parents present in the household. These findings are discussed in relation to the development of juvenile offending.

Trajectories of Parent–Adolescent Relationship Quality Among At-Risk Youth: Parental Depression and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes

“…The overall pattern showed relatively high levels of perceived support at baseline that decreased very gradually over time. This general pattern is consistent with prior findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Loeber et al, 2000; Shanahan, McHale, Crouter, & Osgood, 2007). The findings confirm the dampening effect of adolescent depression on perceived parent–adolescent support (Branje et al, 2010), as well as the subsequent ameliorative effect of parent–adolescent support on adolescent depression.…”

Putting theory to the test: Examining family context, caregiver motivation, and conflict in the Family Check-Up model

“…The Family Check-Up (FCU) model (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003; Dishion & Stormshak, 2007) is an adaptive, tailored, family-centered intervention that has been implemented in public middle schools to target risk factors common during this developmental period, such as increases in family conflict and decreases in parent–adolescent communication, involvement, and closeness (Hafen & Laursen, 2009; Hill, Bromell, Tyson, & Flint, 2007; Larson, Richards, Moneta, Holmbeck, & Duckett, 1996; Loeber et al, 2000). During early adolescence, relatively innocuous levels of misbehavior may escalate into more severe forms of problem behavior, including delinquency, substance use, and risky sexual behavior, that may continue into later adolescence, particularly in families in which adolescents disengage from their parents (Dishion & Patterson, 2006).…”

Positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior in eight countries

“…Studies of adolescents have stressed the role of dimensions such as parental monitoring and quality of parent-child relationships. These parenting dimensions have shown moderate stability over the course of adolescence (Loeber et al, 2000; McNally, Eisenberg, & Harris, 1991). …”