Factor analysis of the 72-item Home Life Questionnaire (from T. H. Hirschi (1969) Causes of Delinquency, University of California Press, Berkeley) revealed a clear four-factor structure of caring and communication, discipline, pressure, and mother-daughter closeness, which cumulatively accounted for 31 percent of the variance. Multiple regression of these factors onto self-reported delinquency indicated the maternal factor to be most powerful, explaining 25 percent of the variance in self-reported delinquency. Institutionalized and noninstitutionalized girls showed only chance differences in terms of the quality of their home life. (Author abstract)