Parental Control, Adolescent Delinquency, and Young Adult Criminal Behavior

Adolescence and young adulthood are periods of increased autonomy. Higher levels of autonomy could increase the opportunities for risky behavior such as delinquency. During these periods of transition, the role of parental control becomes less clear. Previous studies have demonstrated the association between parental control and adolescent delinquency, but few have extended examination of such association into young adulthood. The purpose of the study is to examine the association between parental control and delinquency and parental control in adolescence and young adult criminal behavior. We propose that, even though adolescents seek autonomy during this stage, lack of parental control is positively associated with delinquency and has continued influence in young adulthood. Using a national longitudinal dataset, we analyzed the relationship between parental control and delinquency. Findings from regression analyses indicated that lack of parental control had a positive association with delinquency both concurrently and longitudinally into young adulthood. When analyzing delinquency in young adulthood, females reported a lower level of delinquency and younger age was associated with more delinquent behavior. Unexpectedly, parents’ college education was positively associated with delinquency in young adulthood. The findings suggest that parental control is still influential through the period of adolescence and early parental control is still influential in young adulthood. Ways to practice parental control and implications of results are further discussed.     

Gendered pathways to romantic attachment in emerging adults: The role of body image and parental support

This study analyses the impact of body image and perceived parental behaviour (support and negativity) as factors that contribute to romantic attachment in emerging adulthood. In a 11-year longitudinal study on 144 females and 114 males, we assessed body image, body mass index, and perceived father's and mother's support and negativity during adolescence (at ages 14 and 17) and in emerging adulthood (age 21). At the age of 25, romantic attachment was assessed. Results of path analyses revealed that females' positive body image was consistently linked with greater parental support over time and contributed to low avoidance in romance at the age of 25, whereas perceived negativity with fathers mediated by body image contributed to more avoidance in females' later romantic relationships. In contrast, parental support and negativity during adolescence and young adulthood had no impact; only a positive body image resulted in males' low avoidance in later romantic attachment at the age of 25. The findings point to gendered socialization for males and females and highlight the importance of body image for an adaptive romantic outcome in emerging adulthood.     

The effects of work- and family-related transitions on young people’s perception of being adult

Using a nationwide sample of 2656 eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds, the first part of the present study addressed the question of how non-traditional as compared to traditional living arrangements related to young people’s self-perception of being either adolescent or adult. Being in a romantic relationship increased the likelihood of feeling adult. Modern adult living arrangements (living alone in a single household or sharing an apartment with peers) increased the likelihood of feeling adolescent. Employing a longitudinal sample of 461 twenty- to twenty-seven-year-olds, changes in job status and sources of income were studied with regard to their connections to the emergence of subjective adulthood or the regression to subjective adolescence, respectively. No association between adult or adolescent self-perception and issues of work and material autonomy was found, but the emergence of subjective adulthood was related to romantic relationships and parenthood. Findings are discussed with reference to young people’s volatile living conditions and transient commitments implied by social change.     

Young adult romantic relationships: the role of parents' marital problems and relationship efficacy

This study examined the link between parental divorce and marital conflict and young adult romantic relationships, and it tested whether offspring efficacy beliefs and conflict mediate this association. Young adults (N=358) provided data at three time points each separated by 7-week intervals. Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that (a) parents' marital conflict, rather than parental divorce, was associated with offspring conflict behavior; (b) relationship efficacy mediated this association; and (c) conflict behavior, in turn, mediated the association between efficacy beliefs and the quality of offspring romantic relationships. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the impact of parents' marital problems on romantic relationships in young adulthood. Their implications for preventive interventions and future research are also outlined.     

Examining the relation between adolescent social anxiety,adolescent delinquency (abstention), and emerging adulthood relationship quality

Background and Objectives: Social anxiety symptoms and delinquency are two prevalent manifestations of problem behavior during adolescence and both are related to negative interpersonal relationships in adolescence and emerging adulthood. This study examined the relation between social anxiety and delinquency in adolescence and the interplay between adolescent social anxiety and delinquency on perceived relationship quality in emerging adulthood. Design and Methods: In a 10-year long prospective study (T1, n = 923; T2, n = 727; Mage T1 = 12; 49% female), we examined competing hypotheses using regression analyses: the protective perspective, which suggests social anxiety protects against delinquency; and the co-occurring perspective, which suggests social anxiety and delinquency co-occur leading to increased negative interpersonal outcomes. Results: In adolescence, the relation between social anxiety and delinquency was consistent with the protective perspective. In emerging adulthood, consistent with the co-occurring perspective, ever-delinquents (but not delinquency abstainers) with higher social anxiety reported less perceived best friend, mother, and father support compared to delinquents with lower social anxiety. There was no interaction between anxiety and delinquency in predicting perceived conflict. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of examining the relation between social anxiety and delinquency with regards to different interpersonal outcomes.     

Parental Divorce,Relationships with Fathers and Mothers,and Children’s Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood

The current study examined parent–child relationships during adolescence as a moderator between earlier parental divorce and children’s romantic relationships in emerging adulthood. In addition, the study examined the potential different outcomes in children’s romantic relationships according to the gender of parents and children as well as to fathers’ different residence types. The data for this study came from a 22-year 9-wave investigated longitudinal study, Michigan Study of Life Transitions (MSALT), which began in 1983. The sample for the current study was 520 (female?=?311 and male?=?209) from ‘always-married’ and 154 (female?=?107 and male?=?47) from ‘divorced’ families. Some of main findings are that residential father–child relationships during adolescence were more critical for children’s satisfaction in their romantic relationships in emerging adulthood than non-residential divorced father–child relationships, and that relationships with fathers during adolescence mattered for daughters’ satisfaction in their romantic relationships in emerging adulthood, but not for the sons’ satisfaction. Possible explanations of the findings, limitations, and strengths in the current study are discussed, and future research directions are addressed.     

Associations between young adult romantic relationship quality and problem behaviors: An examination of personality–environment interactions

This longitudinal study examined person–environment interplay by testing interaction effects between adolescent personality type (i.e., overcontrollers, undercontrollers, and resilients) and young adult romantic relationship quality on young adult delinquency and anxiety. The study employed six waves of longitudinal questionnaire data collected across 10 years from Dutch youths. Results showed that support from romantic partner was related to a relatively stronger decrease in anxiety in young adulthood for overcontrollers than for resilients. Moreover, higher negative interaction with romantic partner was related to a relative increase in delinquent behaviors for undercontrollers, while no such links emerged for overcontrollers and resilients. This study highlights the importance of considering the interplay between personality characteristics and environmental–relational factors when examining young adults’ developmental outcomes.     

The Impact of Early Interpersonal Experience on Adult Romantic Relationship Functioning: Recent Findings from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation

Adopting an organizational view on social development, we have investigated how interpersonal experiences early in life prospectively predict how well individuals resolve relationship conflicts, recover from conflicts, and have stable, satisfying relationships with their romantic partners in early adulthood. We have also identified specific intervening interpersonal experiences during middle childhood and adolescence that mediate the connection between how individuals regulated their emotions with their parents very early in life and as young adults in their romantic relationships. We discuss the many advantages of adopting an organizational view on social development.     

Gender Differences in Delinquency in Early,Middle, and Late Adolescence: An Exploration of Parent and Friend Relationships

Researchers often examine juvenile delinquency without considering the developmental differences between early, middle, and late adolescence. Much research suggests that relationships with parents and friends differ throughout adolescence; however, no research to date has explored how gender differences in friend and parent relationships throughout the stages of adolescence may affect delinquent involvement. In the current project, I utilize a large sample of adolescents to explore the ways friend and parental relationships differ among young men and women throughout adolescence and how these changing relationships affect gender differences in delinquency. I find that both friend relationships and parent–child bonding affect delinquency and that these relationships differ by both gender and stage of adolescence.     

Parent–Adolescent Conflict,Negative Emotion,and Estrangement From the Family of Origin

Adolescence is a developmental period in which parents and children renegotiate roles in light of the children's blossoming individuality and autonomy on one hand and parent–child emotional connectedness on the other hand. The renegotiation process often involves difficulties in communication, which generate tension and conflict and also amplify emotional intensity. In this study, I examined sociocontextual differences between families who maintain contact during the child's young adulthood and those who "repair" the relationship only through separation or detachment. Three waves of panel data I utilized for this investigation reveal that emotional closeness to a parent during adolescence and a rewarding romantic relationship and religiosity during young adulthood play protective roles in maintaining the parent–child relationship beyond adolescence. A parent's alcohol use, high levels of parent–adolescent conflict, family economic hardship during adolescence, and delinquent behavior and depressive symptoms in the adolescent increase the risks for termination of the parent–child relationship. The findings provide evidence for the long-term impact of parent–child conflict and negative emotion during adolescence.     

Problem Behavior and Romantic Relationships: Assortative Mating,Behavior Contagion,and Desistance

Antisocial behavior and substance misuse are forms of problem behavior demonstrating considerable continuity over time. Accordingly, problem behavior influences interpersonal contexts across the life course, which may result in the replication of coercive interactions and a problem behavior lifestyle within romantic relationships. Furthermore, theories of self-selection, and associated research, suggest that individuals pick companions compatible with, and supportive of, their behavior, leading to high levels of similarity between romantic partners and the potential reinforcement of problem behavior over time. However, some research suggests that romantic relationships may play a positive role and facilitate desistance from problem behavior. The purpose of this paper is to explore how antisocial behavior and substance use both influence and are influenced by romantic relationships in late adolescence and early adulthood. We first review research regarding the extent of, and processes underlying, partner similarity in problem behavior. Next, we examine how romantic relationships may promote the desistance of problem behavior. Finally, we discuss possible moderators of the association between problem behavior and romantic relationships, as well as limitations, intergenerational implications, and recommended future directions of the reviewed research.     

Maternal and paternal parenting during adolescence: forecasting early adult psychosocial adjustment

This study investigated the relationship of maternal and paternal parenting behavior (acceptance and firm control) during adolescence to four domains of early adult functioning (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, prosocial competence, and cognitive competence). Twenty-one females and 29 males from intact families, along with their mothers and fathers, participated. Assessments were conducted in adolescence and early adulthood, separated by approximately five and one-half years. Higher levels of maternal firm control during adolescence were associated with more secure early adult romantic attachment and lower levels of educational achievement. There were no main effects for fathers, but paternal parenting behavior interacted with maternal parenting behavior to predict both early adult romantic attachment and delinquency. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Risk and Protective Processes Predicting Rural African American Young Men's Substance Abuse

Informed by a life course perspective, this study tested a cascade model linking harsh, unresponsive parenting during childhood to young African American men's substance abuse via precocious transitions, economic instability, and future orientation. The moderating influence of community disadvantage and romantic partner support on the hypothesized pathways was also examined. At the baseline, the sample included 505 African American men between ages 19 and 22 years from high‐poverty rural communities. Follow‐up data were collected 18 months after baseline. Using structural equation modeling, we identified harsh, unresponsive parenting influenced precocious transitions in adolescence, which in turn increased economic instability during young adulthood. Economic instability was associated with a reduction in future orientation, a proximal influence on increases in substance abuse. Also, residence in a disadvantaged community amplified the influence of precocious transitions on economic instability and the influence of economic instability on future orientation. Involvement with supportive romantic partnership evinced a protective effect, attenuating the influence of precocious transitions on economic instability and the influence of economic instability on a future orientation. This study expands understanding of young adults’ substance abuse by demonstrating the risk and protective processes linking substance abuse to developmental factors across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.     

Convergence and Non-convergence in the Quality of Adolescent Relationships and its Association with Adolescent Adjustment and Young Adult Relationship Quality

With the aim of identifying and examining both converging (matched relationship quality across one's set of relationships) and non-converging (mixed relationship quality across one's set of relationships), the present study used a pattern-centered approach to examine the different ways adolescent relationships pattern together among a large, national sample of U.S adolescents (aged 13-19). The study also examined how adolescent adjustment and young adult relationship quality varied across the different relationship patterns or constellations. The current study used latent class analysis and data from Add Health (n = 4,233), a national U.S. longitudinal study that spans adolescence and young adulthood, to uncover heterogeneity in adolescent relations with parents, friends, romantic partners, peers, and teachers. As predicted, patterns of both convergence and non-convergence were found, though patterns of non-convergence were more common than expected. Some patterns of non-convergence appear more stable (i.e., similar pattern found during both adolescence and young adulthood) than others. Also, no "high" converging pattern was found, indicating that few adolescents have "first-rate" relations in every relational domain.     

Age-Related Differences in the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood and Links with Family Relationships

This study examined differences on major aspects of attaining adult status in the transition from adolescence into young adulthood. The attainment of developmental tasks and the quality of parent–child relationships were compared across adolescence and young adulthood. In addition, the extent to which relationships with parents are related to the attainment of young adulthood developmental tasks was also investigated. The study was conducted on 169 Israeli adolescents, early young adults, and late young adults. Results showed that developmental tasks are attained at different stages, and that the consolidation of adult status is achieved closer to the end of the third decade of life. Relationships with parents were found to be more positive following the transition from adolescence to early young adulthood. Adaptation of young adults was explained by the quality of relationships with parents and especially with fathers.     

Leaving home or still in the nest? Parent-child relationships and psychological health as predictors of different leaving home patterns

In this study, the author examines the patterns of leaving home in a sample of 93 participants and their parents. The quality of parent-child relationships, psychological symptomatology in adolescence and young adulthood, and attachment representation were assessed longitudinally from mid-adolescence to young adulthood. Attachment representation, adolescent autonomy, and parent-adolescent conflict were found to be important predictors of the timing of leaving home. In-time leavers were more securely attached and had been granted high autonomy during adolescence, compared with participants who had left home later or had returned to reside in the family home. Young adults with nonnormative leaving home patterns also showed higher percentages of insecure attachment representations and lower percentages of involvement with a romantic partner. Participants residing with their parents were, according to their parents' perceptions, less psychologically healthy.     

Interpersonal relationship quality in young adulthood: a gender analysis

This study explored gender differences in the degree to which parent-child dyads and family system variables are associated with relationship quality in late adolescence and early adulthood. It was hypothesized that the quality of mother-child and father-child relationships, as well as family adaptability and family cohesion, would be positively correlated with the quality of intimate relationships in late adolescence and young adulthood. Further, it was hypothesized that correlations would vary according to gender. The sample was composed of 50 males and 48 females between the ages of 18 and 24. The results indicated that the relationship of family factors to the intimate relationships of young adults was similar for males and females. Specifically, a positive relationship with mother and greater adaptability in the family system during adolescence were related to more positive intimate relationships in young adulthood.     

Influence of family of origin and adult romantic partners on romantic attachment security

According to attachment theory, attachment style derives from social experiences throughout the life span. The authors tested this expectation by examining associations between the quality of observed interaction patterns in the family of origin during adolescence and self-reported romantic attachment style and observed romantic relationship behaviors in adulthood (ages 25 and 27). Family and romantic relationship interactions were rated by trained observers from video recordings of structured conversation tasks. Attachment style was assessed with items from D. W. Griffin and K. Bartholomew's (1994a) Relationship Scales Questionnaire. Observational ratings of warmth and sensitivity in family interactions were positively related to similar behaviors by romantic partners and to attachment security. In addition, romantic interactions characterized by high warmth and low hostility at age 25 predicted greater attachment security at 27, after controlling for attachment security at age 25. However, attachment security at age 25 did not predict later romantic relationship interactions after controlling for earlier interactions. These findings underscore the importance of close relationships in the development of romantic attachment security but do not indicate that attachment security predicts the quality of interactions in romantic relationships.     

Parent–Daughter Communications and Emerging Adults’ Beliefs About Mate Selection

The current study explores the association between emerging adult females’ experiences discussing relationships with their parents during adolescence and their current constraining relationship beliefs about mate selection. Constraining beliefs about the need for complete assurance of personal and relational success were more strongly held, whereas beliefs that cohabitation improves later marital outcomes, successful relationships require little effort, and opposites attract were less likely to be endorsed. A broad range of topics on romantic relationships were discussed, most often with mothers, during adolescence. What these young adults recalled discussing and how they felt about those discussions were associated with some, but not all, of their current constraining beliefs. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Associations between Marijuana Use During Emerging Adulthood and Aspects of the Significant Other Relationship in Young Adulthood

We used a prospective design to examine the association of marijuana use during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood with reported relationship quality with significant other in the mid- to late twenties. The community-based sample consisted of 534 young adults (mean age=27) from upstate New York. The participants were interviewed at four points in time at mean ages 14, 16, 22, and 27 years. Marijuana use during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood was associated with less relationship cohesion and harmony, and with more relationship conflict with control on variables reflecting the participants’ early interpersonal adjustment and the quality of the relationships with their parents. Our findings suggest that marijuana use during emerging adulthood predicts diminished relationship quality with a partner in the mid- to late twenties.