The Role of Family Structure and Family Processes on Adolescent Problem Behavior

ABSTRACT

We examined the impact of family structure and family processes on engagement in multiple and co-occurring problem behaviors during adolescence (delinquency, substance use, risky sexual behavior, and truancy) while accounting for key risk factors (attachment to school, antisocial peers, self-control, and residential stability) for antisocial behavior. Using data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 9,992), latent class analysis identified classes of youth based on engagement in multiple forms of problem behavior. Multinomial logistic regression was then employed to test the direct and indirect effects of family structure on family processes and placement in the latent classes. Significant differences in family processes and latent class membership were identified across categories of family structure except when comparing across two types of single biological mother households (with children from one father and multipartnered fertility families). Family processes, self-control, and having antisocial peers reduced the effects of family structure on latent class membership.

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Notes on contributors

Kristina K. Childs

Kristina K. Childs, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include juvenile risk assessment, intervention efforts to reduce the criminalization of youth mental illness, and the causes and consequences of multiple and co-occurring risk-taking behavior among adolescents. She has received over $1 million in external funding from the National Institute of Justice, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance to support her research. She has recently published her research in Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Criminal Justice and Behavior, and Psychological Assessment.

Caitlin M. Brady

Caitlin M. Brady, M.A., is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. She received her Master’s in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her research has been accepted for publication in Deviant Behavior, American Journal of Criminal Justice, and Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse. Her research interests include: juvenile justice, mental health, risk assessment, and gender differences.

Alesha L. J. Cameron

Alesha L. J. Cameron, M.S., is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. She has received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida and is certified in Victim Advocacy. She has criminal justice field experience and her interests include victimization and police culture.

Catherine Kaukinen

Catherine Kaukinen, Ph.D., is a professor and chair in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. Her interests include intimate partner violence, developmental antecedents and long-term consequences of victimization, victim coping, resilience, help-seeking, and decision-making, the history of Title IX and Federal initiatives to address violence against college women, and the evaluation of campus-based violence against women prevention and intervention programs. Her work on developing programs on campus to address violence against women includes over $1 million dollars in funding from the Office on Violence Against Women in which she developed a multi-campus victim service intervention and prevention program addressing dating violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Her research has appeared in Criminology, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, and Violence & Victims, among other outlets.