Bidirectional links and concurrent development of parent-child relationships and boys' offending behavior.

Abstract

This study examined different types of longitudinal associations (i.e., directional links and overlapping developmental changes) between children’s delinquency and the quality of parent-child relationships from middle childhood to late adolescence. We used 10-wave interview data of 503 boys, their primary caregivers, and their teachers. Our first aim was to unravel the direction of effects between parent-child relationships and children’s offending. Cross-lagged panel models revealed bidirectional links over time between poorer quality parent-child relationships and boys’ offending across late childhood (age 7–10), early adolescence (age 10–13) and middle adolescence (age 13–16). Second, we examined the associations between mean changes in delinquency, on the one hand, and mean changes in relationship quality, on the other hand. Although parent-child relationships improved during childhood, their quality decreased in early adolescence and remained stable in middle adolescence. Delinquency increased only in middle adolescence. In 5 out of 6 models, the slope factors of relationship quality and offending were strongly correlated, indicating that stronger increases in delinquency were associated with stronger decreases in parent-child relationship quality across childhood, early adolescence, and middle adolescence. The discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of these two types of longitudinal associations.

The development of perceived maternal hostile, aggressive conflict from adolescence to early adulthood: Antecedents and outcomes

“…Consistent with the notion of child effects, Keijsers, Loeber, Branje, and Meeus (2011), using only a male sample, found bidirectional links between poorer quality parentechild relationships and children's delinquency from late childhood to middle adolescence. In contrast, and Klahr, Rueter et al (2011), using a sample of adoptive families, found that parentechild conflict was related to the development of delinquency problems four years later, but delinquency problems did not predict parentechild conflict over time.…”

Perceived mother and father acceptance‐rejection predict four unique aspects of child adjustment across nine countries

“…Although we acknowledge the bidirectional nature of parent-child relationships (e.g., Keijsers, Loeber, Branje, & Meeus, 2011), we were primarily interested in the effects of perceived acceptance-rejection on child functioning. Hence, this a priori model omitted predictive relations between child functioning and later perceived acceptance-rejection but included within-wave (concurrent) relations between child functioning and perceived acceptance-rejection.…”

Siblings versus parents and friends: longitudinal linkages to adolescent externalizing problems

“…For instance, reciprocal links have been established between friends’ and adolescents’ externalizing problems (e.g., Haynie & Osgood, 2005), and between poorer quality parent–child relationships and adolescent externalizing problems (e.g., Lytton, 1990; Keijsers, Loeber, Branje & Meeus, 2011). Thus, to disentangle whether siblings predict externalizing problems, it is necessary to control for reverse associations.…”