The study evaluates the overall role families play in the etiology of delinquency across different ethnic and racial groups, and investigates the relative role of specific issues such as family involvement, family attachment, and family control among Hispanic, African American, and white male adolescents. The analysis used two waves of data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a longitudinal project investigating the causes and correlates of delinquency among a high-risk urban sample of youth. Results of this study indicate that family variables as a group are more important in constraining delinquency for Hispanic adolescents. In addition, the relative influence of particular family processes on delinquent conduct appears to differ among diverse populations. The authors also found that living in a single-parent home has less impact on family processes than living in a situation of economic hardship. Footnotes, figures, tables, appendix, references