Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgments
- Overview
- 1 The ESIOM paradigm and its problems
- 2 The insidious effects of economic and social stress on parenting
- 3 Parenting, peers and delinquency
- 4 Delinquency generation at the individual level
- 5 Delinquency generation at the aggregate level
- 6 An epidemic model of offender population growth
- 7 Theories of crime and place
- 8 Prevention
- Notes
- References
- Index
4 - Delinquency generation at the individual level
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgments
- Overview
- 1 The ESIOM paradigm and its problems
- 2 The insidious effects of economic and social stress on parenting
- 3 Parenting, peers and delinquency
- 4 Delinquency generation at the individual level
- 5 Delinquency generation at the aggregate level
- 6 An epidemic model of offender population growth
- 7 Theories of crime and place
- 8 Prevention
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
The general approach
While the principal focus of this chapter is upon testing whether poor parenting is more likely to produce delinquency in ‘delinquent-prone’ neighbourhoods, we also seek to provide confirmation of earlier findings about the role of parenting as a mediator of the effects of economic and social stress on crime. We begin by showing the effect of economic and social stress on participation in crime. We then examine the effect of economic and social stress on parenting, followed by the effect of parenting upon participation in crime. We then examine the relative effects of parenting variables on delinquency in crime-prone versus non crime-prone communities. Finally we test whether all of the effects of social and economic stress on delinquency are channelled through poor parenting.
Data and methods of analysis
The source of individual-level data is a large scale epidemiological survey of child health and well-being conducted in Western Australia in 1993. The survey was not conducted to explore the correlates of offending. The focus of the survey was on estimating the prevalence and distribution of mental health problems and other chronic medical conditions, and on estimating the prevalence and distribution of adverse health behaviours (Zubrick et al. 1995). It targeted children aged 4–16 and was conducted jointly by the Institute for Child Health Research and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
A number of different survey instruments and data collection methods were used in the survey.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Delinquent-Prone Communities , pp. 67 - 77Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000