The effects of ecological family disadvantage on male and female adolescent delinquency

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and serial indirect effects of ecological family disadvantage on adolescent male and female delinquency through poor parental monitoring and deviant peer association. Data used in this paper are collected on a sample of 528 Croatian high-school students (374 males) aged between 15 and 17. Participants self-reported their delinquency, and completed questionnaires about their familial disadvantage, parental monitoring, and their association with deviant peers. PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the proposed direct and indirect effects. The results showed that ecological family disadvantage had a direct effect on more pronounced male delinquency. There was no significant serial indirect effect of ecological family disadvantage on male delinquency through the two presumed mediators, but there was significant indirect effect of ecological family disadvantage on male delinquency through their increased deviant peer association. In females, no significant direct or indirect effects were found. The results point to gender specific mechanisms by which ecological family disadvantage contributes to adolescent delinquency, and thus make a significant contribution to the literature on this topic.