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Parent-Adolescent Processes and Reduced Risk for Delinquency: The Effect of Gender for Mexican American Adolescents

NCJ Number
215917
Journal
Youth & Society Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 375-392
Author(s)
Sonia Cota-Robles; Wendy Gamble
Date Published
June 2006
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study investigated whether the parent-adolescent processes of monitoring and parent-adolescent attachment were linked to a reduced risk for delinquency for adolescents of Mexican decent.
Abstract
The study suggests that parent-adolescent processes are relevant for reducing the risk of delinquency for Mexican-American adolescents, but that it is important to control for shared variance among these processes before drawing conclusions. This study also provided evidence that traditional gender role values might play a role in the relationships between parent adolescent processes and delinquency risk. Gender was found to moderate the relationship between mother-adolescent attachment and delinquency. Additional investigation indicated that mother-adolescent attachment was more clearly linked to a reduced risk of delinquency for boys than for girls. Many studies have found that a decreased risk for delinquency is predicted by parent-adolescent processes, including greater parental monitoring. Using a sample of 454 adolescents of Mexican decent from 2 parent families, the study evaluated the relationships between parent-adolescent processes and delinquency risk, taking into account the potential role of conventional gender role values. References