Parent and peer influences: their role in predicting adolescent moral values and delinquent behavior
Date
2011
Authors
Thomas, April M., author
Youngblade, Lise, advisor
Palermo, Francisco, committee member
Henry, Kimberly, committee member
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Abstract
Given the alarming number of juvenile arrests in recent years (Puzzanchera, 2009), as well as the appreciation that outcomes of deviant or delinquent activity are often of serious consequence to both the youth and to society, there is a growing interest in examining the factors that lead adolescents to engage in juvenile delinquency or deviant behavior. To address these factors, the present study used secondary data analysis, with a sample of 290 adolescents, aged 13-19 to examine the relationship between adolescent moral values and adolescent delinquency. Adolescent moral values were examined as a mediator of the relationships between parent moral values and adolescent delinquent behavior, and also between peer delinquent behavior and adolescent delinquent behavior. Attachment to parents and peers was also examined as a moderator of these relationships. Regression analysis was used to analyze the data for this study. Overall results revealed that adolescent moral values were negatively and significantly predictive of adolescent delinquent behavior. Findings also showed that adolescent moral values partially mediate the relationships between parent moral values and adolescent delinquent behavior, as well as between peer delinquent behavior and adolescent delinquent behavior. Peer-youth attachment was identified as a significant moderator of the relationship between peer delinquent behavior and adolescent delinquent behavior. The other moderating pathways of the model were not statistically significant. In general, findings support the current literature in emphasizing parent and peer contexts as highly influential of adolescents' delinquency and introduce how such contexts influence adolescents' moral development. These findings illustrate the important nature of adolescent morality in predicting adolescents' delinquent behavior. Additionally, these findings provide evidence in support of classical theories of risk behavior, such as problem behavior theory, social control theory, and the social development model, as well as attachment theory.
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Subject
adolescence
peers
parents
morality
juvenile delinquency