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The Parent-Peer Interface: Does Inductive Parenting Reduce the Criminogenic Effect of Delinquent Peers?

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

Published online on

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether inductive parenting is capable of reducing delinquent peer influence. This hypothesis was tested using the first four waves (1976–1979) and all 1,725 (918 boys and 807 girls) members of the National Youth Survey (NYS). Inductive parenting was scored from 6 dichotomous items completed by a parent at Wave 1. Peer influence and selection were based on measures of peer and own delinquency completed by adolescent members of the NYS. As predicted, the pathway from inductive parenting to peer influence was significant and the pathway from inductive parenting to peer selection was not, although the two pathways were not significantly different from one another. These results suggest that inductive parenting exerts a small but potentially important effect on peer influence and may be one way of preventing the proactive or instrumental criminality believed to be transmitted through the peer influence process.