Parenting and Children's Self-Control: Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact parenting has on the development of self-control, both before and after the general theory of crime suggests self-control is established. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, longitudinal data from mothers with children ages 8–9 and 12–13 were analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results demonstrated an overall environment of effective parenting is associated with (1) self-control before and after it is theoretically established and (2) parenting constructs outside the conceptualization of the theory. Further, the stability of self-control may matter more than parenting in the longitudinal development of self-control.

Acknowledgments

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 was administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics under the United States Department of Labor. Funding sources have had no involvement in the data analysis, interpretation or data, or the writing and submission of this article.

Notes

¹The decision as to which errors terms to correlate and how many to correlate was determined by whether the estimations were statistically substantial and, more importantly, whether the correlations made theoretical sense while also avoiding an overfitted model (Byrne 2001; Garson 2006; Kline 2005). This method of determining model fit “is the most common approach found in the literature” (Garson 2011:1).

²Although the measure of discipline is technically a hypothetical scenario, past research also examining the NLSY has used this similar hypothetical measure to examine discipline (see e.g., Pratt et al. 2004). Alternative items were considered such as how often in the past week was the child grounded; however, the items were unclear as to why the child was receiving discipline, and as such, could be measuring harsh discipline. Further, the items only examined discipline during the past week instead of over time (e.g., the past year). It is possible that the child may have engaged in more or less appropriate behaviors than average during the past week. Using the current measure of discipline controls for harshness of and reason for receiving discipline, and provides a more general sense of discipline use over time.

Abbreviations noted in the Methods section. Transformations did not change the skew of communication coefficients. Transformations were not needed for Dis 6, AS, SC 1, or SC 2. SC 1 = self-control ages 8–9 mother reported, SC 2 = self-control ages 12–13 mother reported.

³A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the measurement model in which both autonomy support and positive reinforcement were measured as latent variables. The solution was inadmissible due to negative covariances occurring with both autonomy support and positive reinforcement.

⁴When using the MCMAM, unstandardized coefficients and standard errors are required to compute the indirect effects (Selig and Preacher 2008). The following unstandardized coefficients were used: a = .755 (SE = .220) and b = .532 (SE = .035).

Of the 736 participants, only 734 participants indicated mother's education and only 723 participants indicated their family structure. For the purposes of data description, data was recoded to (1) < 12 years, (2) 12 years, (3) 1–3 years of college, and (4) 4 + years of college.

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001; Race and Family Structure were dummy coded: Race_1 = Hispanic, Race_2 = African American (Caucasian omitted); Fam_1 = mother father live together unmarried, Fam_2 = mother and step-father, Fam_3 = single mother (mother father married omitted).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer M. Crosswhite

DR. JENNIFER M. CROSSWHITE conducts research on the etiology of deviance. Specifically, examining how parents are influential in child and adolescent deviance, what processes may mediate the parenting–deviance association, and the theoretical advancement regarding these associations. Currently, she is the P.I. on a research project that will provide at-risk youth a voice with respect to why they engage in deviant behaviors.

Jennifer L. Kerpelman

DR. JENNIFER L. KERPELMAN conducts basic and applied research in the areas of adolescent identity development, adolescents’ relationships with parents, peers and romantic partners, and adolescent sexual health. She also has created multiple resources designed to promote positive youth development, and recently directed a 5-year federally funded evaluation study of a youth-focused relationship education curriculum. Currently, she is serving as P. I./Co-P.I. on several projects addressing adolescent health and well-being.