The Correlation of Family Management Practices and Delinquency

TLDR

Parental family‑management skills in middle and high school boys are linked to both police contacts and self‑reported delinquency. The study assessed four family‑management dimensions: monitoring, discipline, problem solving, and reinforcement. Parent monitoring and discipline scores were significantly correlated with both delinquency measures, with monitoring explaining the most variance and distinguishing moderate from persistent offenders, while problem solving and reinforcement had the least impact.

Abstract

Family-management skills of parents of seventh- and tenth-grade boys were related to each of 2 criterion measures of delinquency: police contacts and self-reported delinquency. The measures of family-management skills were monitoring, discipline, problem solving, and reinforcement. The measures of parent monitoring and discipline were shown to correlate significantly with both criterion measures. The monitoring score accounted for the most variance in both criterion measures of delinquency, and the problem solving and reinforcement measures accounted for the least. The monitoring score also differentiated moderate offenders from persistent offenders.