Relationship Between Friends’ Problem Behavior And Juvenile Violent Delinquency: The Roles Of Self-control And Parenting Practices

Adolescence is a period that the individual is vulnerable to the influence of afriend. The influence of the friend on teenagers may be positive, also may be negative,depending on the characteristics of peer group. A mass of research indicate thatassociation with deviant friends can lead to the occurrence and development ofadolescents’ problem behavior. If associated with deviant peers for long, thelikelihood of youth participating in criminal activities increases, and association withdeviant peers is viewed as an important turning point for the youth from the generaldelinquent behavior to crime. Therefore, exploring factors which can moderate thenegative influence of bad friends and examining the mechanism of influences factorsto juvenile delinquency becomes an important step of the intervention to juveniledelinquency. Throughout past study about juvenile delinquency, individual’sself-control, parenting practices are important factors to predict juvenile delinquency.However, whether a high level of self-control and positive parenting practices canresist the negative influence of deviant friends to teenagers of violent crime, it is stillneeded further discussion. In view of this, based on the review of previous research,this study discusses the link between the problem behaviors of friends and adolescentviolent crime, and the effects of self-control and parenting practices.We applied the psychological measurement method, a self-report of self-control,parenting practices and friends’ problem behavior were investigated on366juveniledelinquency and488normal teenagers. Conclusions drawn in this thesis are asfollows:1. Friends’ problem behavior was positively associated with juvenile delinquency significantly, the higher the level of friend’s problem behavior, the greater thepossibility of juvenile delinquency. Self-control was negatively correlated withjuvenile delinquency, adolescents reported more self-control, the less likely hebecame a juvenile delinquency; Psychological autonomy was negatively associatedwith juvenile delinquency, the more psychological autonomy parents grants forchildren, the smaller the possibility of juvenile delinquency.2. After controlling for other variables, friends’ problem behavior, self-controlstill could significantly predict juvenile delinquency. In general, Friends’ problembehavior could interpret juvenile delinquency at a greatest degree.3. Self-control moderated the association of friends’ problem behavior andjuvenile delinquency. At the higher level of self-control, with the level of friends’problem behavior increased, the possibility of juvenile delinquency increasedsignificantly; At the lower level of self-control, with the level of friends’ problembehavior increased, the possibility of juvenile delinquency also increased significantly.But compared with the higher level of self-control, when it was on the lower level ofself-control, as friends’ problem behavior level increased every one unit, increasedpossibility on juvenile delinquency changed more.4. Among parenting practices, only psychological autonomy-granting andstrictness/supervision moderated the relationship between friends’ problem behaviorand juvenile delinquency. In detailed, For psychological autonomy-granting, At thehigher level of psychological autonomy-granting, with the level of friends’ problembehavior increased, the possibility of juvenile delinquency increased significantly; Atthe lower level of psychological autonomy-granting, with the level of friends’problem behavior increased, the possibility of juvenile delinquency also increasedsignificantly. But compared with the lower level of psychological autonomy-granting,when it was on the higher level of self-control, as friends’ problem behavior levelincreased every one unit, increased possibility on juvenile delinquency changed more.For parents’ strictness/supervision, At the higher level of parents’ strictness/supervision, with the level of friends’ problem behavior increased, the possibility ofjuvenile delinquency increased significantly; At the lower level of parents’ strictness/ supervision, with the level of friends’ problem behavior increased, the possibility ofjuvenile delinquency also increased significantly. But compared with the higher levelof parents’ strictness/supervision, when it was on the lower level of parents’strictness/supervision, as friends’ problem behavior level increased every one unit,increased possibility on juvenile delinquency changed more.5. Friends’ problem behavior, self-control, and Parents’ psychologicalautonomy-granting had a three-way interaction effects on juvenile violence crime.That is to say, Parents’ psychological autonomy-granting could morderate theinteraction effects of self-control on Friends’ problem behavior and juvenile violencecrime. As the lower level of psychological autonomy-granting, the interaction effectsof self-control on the association of friends’ problem behavior to juvenile delinquencywas not significantly, however, when it was on the higher level of psychologicalautonomy-granting, self-control had significant interaction effects on the associationof friends’ problem behavior to juvenile delinquency.This study provided an important application for prevention and intervention ofjuvenile delinquency: After associated with deviant peers, if parents give childrenmore strictness/supervision and less psychological autonomy-granting, and try toimprove children’ self-control, then will reduce the possibility of juveniledelinquency.