FAMILY AND DELINQUENCY: STRUCTURE OR FUNCTION?*

Abstract

Although much debate and research have been centered on the relative importance of familial structure (for example, presence of parents) and functions (for example, relationship with parents) for delinquency, the discipline has failed to come to terms, both theoretically and empirically, with the inherent complexity of the issues. Recognizing that structure necessitates some functional consequences, the complexity of the issues is explored. Utilizing a city‐wide representative sample of black youths and a somewhat systematic sample of white youths, an Automatic Interaction Detection (AID) analysis is used to uncover unsuspected interaction patterns of six independent variables. Interaction with the father emerged as the single most important variable for blacks. However, AID did uncover for blacks important interactions with family size, presence of father, and social class. A somewhat different and more tenuous pattern was found for whites, with social class being the most important variable and father–son interaction showing very little relationship with delinquency. It seems evident, therefore, that structure and function, especially for blacks, are both of importance for delinquency.