Juvenile delinquency as acting out: Emotional disturbance mediating the effects of parental attachment and life events

Abstract

Previous research has shown that high quality parent-adolescent attachments are negatively associated with juvenile delinquency, while stressful life events are positively related to this form of externalizing problem behaviour. Instead of testing only these direct relationships, the present study examined a model in which emotional disturbance would mediate the effects of parental attachment and life stress on delinquency. Data were used from a national representative sample of 568 adolescents aged 15 – 19, who had participated in the second (1994) and third (1997) wave of an ongoing longitudinal survey. Multiple regression and LISREL analyses showed that emotional disturbance significantly predicted subsequent delinquent behaviour, and that emotional disturbance mediated the effects of parental attachment and life stress.