Families and Delinquency: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Broken Homes

Abstract

Although the empirical evidence on the effects of family structure (specifically the issue of “broken homes”) on delinquency is substantial and varied, the research base seems incomplete and inconclusive. Very few incontrovertible generalizations can currently be stated; more specific statements regarding important variations across persons, types of delinquency, and family context are very tentative and approximate with inconsistent support. This paper attempts to resolve some of these inconsistencies through an empirical meta-analysis of existing research on broken homes and delinquency. Generally, we conclude that most of the variation in reported effects across the 50 studies is a result of methodological rather than substantive feature