Perceived Parental Competence, Moral Neutralization, and Cognitive Impulsivity in Relation to Future Delinquency: Understanding the Socialization Process

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether perception preceded belief when it came to predicting delinquency. Perceived parental competence served as the first stage of a socialization process designed to reduce delinquency. The second stage of this process entailed obstructing antisocial belief in the form of moral neutralization or cognitive impulsivity. We hypothesized that moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity would mediate the relationship between perceived parental competence and delinquency in a model where perception preceded belief but that perceived parental competence would not mediate the relationship between neutralization/impulsivity and delinquency in a model where belief preceded perception. This hypothesis was tested in a group of 845 (406 boys, 439 girls) middle school (Grades 6-8) youth. Results from a three-wave prospective study revealed that moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity both mediated the perceived parental competence-delinquency relationship, whereas parental competence did not mediate the neutralization/impulsivity-delinquency relationship. When the two components of perceived parental competence—parental support and parental monitoring/control—were analyzed separately, only the monitoring-to-neutralization-to-delinquency path achieved significance.

From Context to Perception to Behavior: Predicting Delinquency With the Parental Support-Perceived Parental Competence Cross-Lag

“…Either there were an insufficient number of data waves to evaluate all four variables simultaneously, or a reasonable measure of one or more key variables was unavailable. Hence, the present study disclosed that a social context variable (parental support) preceded an internal perceptual variable (perceived parental support competence), whereas previous studies have shown that perception precedes belief (Walters et al, 2022) and affect precedes cognition (Walters, 2020a). Thus, while all of the relations proposed in the three rules ("affect before cognition," "perception before belief," "social context before affect/perception") have been verified, the full four-variable model has yet to be tested.…”

“…Although previous research has uncovered support for the "affect before cognition" (Walters, 2020a) and "perception before belief" (Walters et al, 2022) rules, the current study sought to demonstrate that social context precedes perception and not vice versa. This provides preliminary evidence of an internalization process, consistent with social cognitive theory, that could be important to both development and learning.…”

“…These results are consistent with prior studies showing that internalized processes like cognitive distortions (de Vries et al, 2016), moral disengagement (Ishoy, 2017), and weak academic self-efficacy (Walters, 2019) are capable of mediating the parental support-delinquency relationship. More recently, Walters et al (2022) discovered that perceived parental competence suppressed future delinquency by increasing cognitive control and moral cognition. These results are consistent with the notion, central to social cognitive theory, that a change in social context impacts on behavior by encouraging a change in perception or affect, each of which are then followed by a change in belief or cognition, respectively.…”

“…The social cognitive model tested in this and the two previous studies (Walters, 2020a;Walters et al, 2022) proposes a four-variable sequence starting with a social context variable, followed by two mediator variables, either perception followed by belief or affect followed by cognition, and ending with a behavioral outcome like crime or delinquency. In none of these studies, including the current one, was the full four-variable sequence evaluated.…”

“…The second variable sequencing rule, “perception before belief,” maintains that the individual will perceive something about a social object before incorporating that information into a new or existing belief system. Using longitudinal data and controlling for prior levels of each predicted variable, Walters et al (2022) demonstrated that perceived parental competence in the areas of support and control, as assessed by the child, predicted future child delinquency via the mediating effect of changes in moral cognition and cognitive control. Perceived parental competence, on the other hand, failed to mediate the moral cognition/cognitive control-delinquency relationships.…”