The Long-term Protective Effects Family Factors have on Delinquency among Latino Youth Albert M. Kopak, Ph.D. North Carolina Criminal Justice Association Annual Meeting February 19, 2011

Background -Mexican heritage youth: 18% of all year olds (Pew Hispanic Center, 2009) -Latino adolescent males: 12% of males arrested (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999) -Latino adolescents 2x more likely to be incarcerated compared to Whites (Mauer & King, 2007)

Theory  Criminological theory on the family:  Nye’s (1958) control theory held the family as the most important unit of social control over adolescents  Direct controls-monitoring, discipline  Indirect controls-affection, expectation, bonding  Positive family bonds can consistently reinforce prosocial adolescent behavior (Hirschi, 1969).  Important cultural components:  Familism is a core Latino cultural tradition (Castro & Alarcón, 2002)  Acculturation can have a significant effect on family

Parents, family factors, & delinquency  Studies conducted with predominantly White youth:  Different family factors may or may not be related to delinquency (Patterson & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1984).  Regularity of family activities and parental support in adolescence have been found to predict lower levels of delinquency in early adulthood (Hair et al., 2008).  Studies with predominantly Latino youth:  Familial connectedness predicted violent behaviors and monitoring predicted gang-related delinquency (Kerr et al., 2003).

1. Investigate the relative influence of family and parenting factors on: A. involvement in delinquency? B. rates of delinquency for adolescents that have reported engaging in it? 2. Examine whether these effects last from adolescence into emerging adulthood. 3. Determine whether effects are different for adolescent males compared to females. Research Aims

Data -National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) -Predictors – Wave I In-home interviews ( ) -Outcome measures – Wave II In-home interviews (1996); Wave III In-home interviews ( ) -Mexican heritage youth (n=1,165)

Measures  Predictors  Family closeness: 4 items (α =.76) Ex. How much do you feel that…you and your family have fun together?  Parental warmth: 3 items (α =.85) Ex. Most of the time your mother (or Father) is warm and loving toward you  Parental control: 7 items (α =.61) Ex. Do your parents let you make your own decisions about…the time you must be home on weekend nights?  Controls  Delinquent activities at Wave 1  Age  Parents’ education (proxy for socioeconomic status)  Family structure  Gender

Measures  Outcomes: self-reported delinquency sum score at Wave II and Wave III: 7 items Ex. In the past 12 months, how often did you… go into a house or building to steal something? (α =.63; α =.65)

Methods -Loglikelihood test and Vuong’s statistic support zero-inflated negative binomial regression

Descriptive Statistics VariableMean (SD)Range Age (Wave 1)15.6 (1.63)11-20 Age (Wave III)22.00 (1.64)18-26 Wave 1 delinquency1.05 (1.47)0-7 Wave 2 delinquency0.86 (1.27)0-7 Wave 3 delinquency0.36 (0.88)0-7 Family closeness4.02 (0.70)1-5 Parental warmth4.18 (0.81)1-5 Parental control4.82 (1.66)0-7 Percent Female49% Parent education: Did not finish high school46% Two-parent household63% n = 859

Results Note: Parenting & family variables were standardized Models controlled for age, family structure, gender, & prior delinquency ; **p<.01, *p<.05 Wave 2 DelinquencyWave 3 Delinquency Predictor Odds of delinquent involvement (1/exp b ) Rates of delinquency (IRR: exp b ) Odds of delinquent involvement (1/exp b ) Rates of delinquency (IRR: exp b ) Family closeness 0.57 (0.37) 1.03 (0.06) 0.65 (0.30) 0.98 (0.13) Parental warmth 0.89 (.29) 0.96 (.05) 1.29 (0.27) 0.91 (0.11) Parental control 0.52* (0.37) 1.14** (0.05) 0.98 (0.19) 1.06 (0.09) Only one factor predicted odds of delinquent involvement and rates of delinquency:

Results Do parenting/family factors protect against involvement and increases in rates of delinquency differently by gender? Wave 2 Delinquency Predictor Odds of delinquent involvement (1/exp b ) Rates of delinquency (IRR: exp b ) Gender-X- family closeness 0.21* (0.75) 1.01 (0.11) Gender-X- parental warmth 1.61 (0.66) 1.22* (0.12) Gender-X- parental control 2.65 (1.03) 0.88 (.08) Note: Model controlled for age, family structure, gender, & prior delinquency; *p<.05

Discussion 1. Parental control protected against delinquent involvement, but once adolescents became involved, more control was related to increased delinquency. 2. Family closeness and parental warmth were not related to delinquent involvement or rates of delinquency 3. None of the family-parenting variables had effects that lasted into early adulthood. -Family factor effects may be weakening by this developmental period, but delinquency is typically decreasing by this time.

Discussion 3. Parental control was the only protective factor under certain conditions for Mexican heritage youth -Contrary to other research that has found control to be less important than cohesion and support (e.g. Smith & Krohn, 1995) -Largest proportion (38%) of Mexican heritage youth in this study are third generation or beyond. Possibility of Americanized family practices? -Protected against delinquent involvement as but was positively associated with rates of delinquency

Discussion 4. Family closeness were more protective against delinquent involvement for Mexican heritage females compared to males -Mexican heritage girls have been found to report higher levels of parental monitoring and attachment compared to their male peers (Cota-Robles & Gamble, 2005) 5. However, parental warmth was associated with greater rates of delinquency for Mexican heritage girls that reported at least some delinquent involvement -Are girls disconnecting themselves from their parents and spending more time with male peers involved in delinquency?

References Cota-Robles, S. & Gamble, W. (2005). Parent-adolescent processes and reduced risk for delinquency: The effect of gender for Mexican American adolescents. Youth & Society, 37(4), Halgunseth, L. C., Ispa, J. M., & Rudy, D. (2006). Parental control in Latino families: An integrated review of the literature. Child Development, 77(5), Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hair, E. C., Moore, K. A., Garrett, S. B., Ling, T., & Cleveland, K. (2008). The continued importance of quality parent-child relationships during late adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18(1), Kerr, M. H., Beck, K., Shattuck, T. D., Kattar, C., Uriburu, D. (2003). Family involvement, problem and prosocial behavior outcomes of Latino youth. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(Supplement 1), S55-S65.

References Mauer, M. & King, R. S. (2007). Uneven justice: State rates of incarceration by race and ethnicity. Retrieved from The Sentencing Commission website: org/doc/publications/rd_stateratesofincbyraceandethnicity.pdfhttp:// Office of Juvenile Justive and Delinquency Prevention. (1999, December). Minorities in the juvenile justice system. OJJDP Juvenile Justice Bulletin (NCJ ). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Nye, I. F. (1958). Family relationships and delinquency behavior. New York: John Wiley. Pew Hispanic Center. (2009). Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America. Washington D.C. Samiengo, R. Y. & Gonzales, N. A. (1999). Multiple mediators of the effects of acculturation status on delinquency for Mexican American adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(2), Smith, C. & Krohn, M. D. (1995). Delinquency and family life among male adolescents: The role of ethnicity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24(1),

References Steidel, A. G. & Contreras, J. M. (2003). A new familism scale for use with Latino populations. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25, Varela, R. E., Vernberg, E. M., Sanchez-Sosa, J. J., Riveros, A., Mitchell, M., & Mashunkashy, J. (2004). Parenting style of Mexican, Mexican American, and Caucasian-Non-Hispanic Families: Social context and cultural influences. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, Warr, M. (2007). The tangled web: delinquency, deception, and parental attachment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36,