Impact of family stability on children’s delinquency: An implication for family preservation

Employing for analysis a set of secondary data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the present study sought signs of theoretical support for this emphasis on family preservation. Specifically, the research examined the effects on childhood delinquency of the following variables: family stability; parenting style; parental supervision; and structural factors. Binomial logistic regression conducted with the data showed that children's likelihood of becoming delinquent drops noticeably in the following circumstances: they are female; they do not live in poverty; the mother is older or is African-American; they receive stringent parental supervision; and/or they spend many years in residence with biological parents and/or step-parents. Some implications for family preservation efforts are suggested by the study results.