Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Meldrum, Ryan Charles
URN	etd-05172010-101000
Title	Parenting Stability and Delinquency: Assessment and Implications
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Criminology and Criminal Justice, School of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Carter Hay Committee Chair Sarah Bacon Committee Member Lenore McWey University Representative
Keywords	Parenting Stability Change Delinquency
Date of Defense	2010-04-28
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract A large body or research provides strong evidence that parents play a significant role in the likelihood that adolescents will refrain from or engage in delinquent behavior. However, a significant omission in this line of inquiry pertains to the stability of parenting practices during adolescence and the implication of changes in parenting for delinquent behavior and factors known to be related to delinquency. The current study sheds light on these issues by making use of data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), a 15-year study that followed a U.S. national sample of families from the birth of a child to the time the child reached the age of fifteen. The findings of this study reveal that there are significant changes in parenting practices during early adolescence and that these changes are related to changes in delinquent behavior. In addition, changes in the quality of parenting are significantly related to changes in adolescent self-control and affiliations with delinquent peers, providing further evidence that changes in parenting having meaningful effects. Lastly, the observed relationship between changes in parenting and changes in delinquency during early adolescence is almost entirely accounted for by changes in self-control and changes in delinquent peer affiliations. Thus, this study contributes to the body of literature on the relationship between parenting and delinquency by providing evidence that parenting practices change over time and that these changes are related to patterns of delinquent behavior during a crucial developmental period in the lives of adolescents.
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