| The data were obtained as part of the first wave of the South Florida Youth Development Project. This subsample consists of 599 adolescent boys and 629 adolescent girls. Path analyses were used to determine whether it was family structure alone that was directly related to deviant behavior, or whether it was family attachment along with the socialization of belief in the law that was more important in explaining such deviant behaviors as major and minor delinquency, alcohol, cigarette, and drug use while controlling for gender and race/ethnicity. The results indicate that there was no significant direct relationship between family structure and any of the deviant behaviors. However, there was an indirect effect due to the fact that family structure had a significant direct effect on family attachment, which had a direct effect on each of the deviant behaviors. For each deviant behavior, those with weak parental attachment had significantly higher levels of reported deviant behaviors. No significant interactions were found between gender and family structure, nor gender and family attachment with regard to any of the deviant behaviors. There was no significant interaction found between race and family attachment, nor race and family structure with regard to any of the deviant behaviors. Family attachment had a direct effect on law abiding belief, which had a significant effect on the deviant behaviors. For each deviant behavior, those less likely to agree to obey the law had significantly higher levels of reported deviant behaviors. |
