Parent–Child Relations and Delinquency Among African American and European American Juvenile Offenders: An Expanded Examination of Self-Control Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-46
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Fix ◽  
Janice E. Clifford ◽  
Barry R. Burkhart
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Juvenile Offenders ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Self Control ◽  
European American ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Parent Child

Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime indicates that low levels of self-control leads to subsequent delinquency. Multiple studies suggest an indirect effect of parent and family factors on delinquency through self-control. Furthermore, evidence exists that race/ethnicity may affect the mediated relationship between parenting and delinquency. The present study collected information on demographics, parent–child attachment, self-control, and delinquency from 350 confined male adolescents. Models were run to test whether self-control mediated the relationship between total parent–child attachment and facets of parent–child attachment on delinquency. Results indicated self-control mediated the relationship between parent attachment and delinquent behavior. Follow-up models indicated uniquely influential pathways to delinquency depending on aspects of parent-child attachment and the race/ethnicity of the participant. Select aspects of parent–child attachment were more meaningfully predictive of self-control and delinquency among African American youth compared with European American youth. Furthermore, while models run with European American adolescents support previous theories and study outcomes on the link between self-control and delinquency, self-control levels did not predict delinquency within models rung with African American adolescents, identifying a possible limitation of self-control theory. Implications from the present study are discussed alongside future directions for continuing research on culturally informed models of self-control and delinquency.

Cultural and Universal Parenting, Ethnic Identity, and Internalizing Symptoms Among African American Adolescents

2021 ◽  
pp. 009579842110342
Author(s):  
Lydia HaRim Ahn ◽  
Angel S. Dunbar ◽  
Erica E. Coates ◽  
Mia A. Smith-Bynum
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Internalizing Symptoms ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Analytic Model ◽  
Atlantic Region ◽  
The Relationship

The present study tested a path analytic model that addressed two questions regarding the connection between one aspect of racial socialization (cultural pride reinforcement), communication between mothers and their adolescent children, adolescent ethnic identity, and mental health. First, we tested whether quality of communication moderated the relationship between cultural pride reinforcement and ethnic identity affirmation and anxiety/depressive/withdrawn symptoms. Then, we examined whether cultural pride reinforcement and quality of communication with mothers were directly linked to ethnic identity affirmation and in turn lower anxiety/depressive symptoms and withdrawn behaviors. Our sample included 111 African American adolescents (58.2% female; ages 14–17) in the mid-Atlantic region. Results of a path analysis indicated that cultural pride reinforcement and quality of communication independently and uniquely related to internalizing symptoms through ethnic identity affirmation. Findings contribute to a novel understanding of how both cultural (cultural pride reinforcement) and universal (quality of communication) are important factors to foster African American adolescents’ healthy adjustment and sense of self.

Evaluating Self-Control Theory Among the Deaf Community

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2110491
Author(s):  
Tony R. Smith ◽  
Jason D. Scott ◽  
Judy L. Porter ◽  
LaVerne McQuiller Williams
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Effective Parenting ◽  
Parental Management ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Rule Breaking ◽  
The Relationship

This study evaluates the generality of self-control theory with a previously untested cultural group rarely studied by criminologists, the Deaf community. Survey data ( n = 428) from participants attending a university that houses a college for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing were compared with a sample of “hearing” students. The findings support Gottfredson and Hirschi’s cultural invariance thesis as self-control was consistently able to predict a wide range of rule-breaking behaviors among the culturally distinct groups examined. However, several unexpected results challenge the parental management thesis. In particular, exposure to effective parenting techniques was a significant contributor to variations in self-control for the hearing, but not the Deaf sample. Additionally, self-control did not fully mediate the relationship between child-rearing experiences and norm violating behaviors for the Deaf sample. Implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals The Moderating Role of Ethnic Identity on the Relationship Between School Climate and Self-Esteem for African American Adolescents

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-305
Author(s):  
Amy E. Fisher ◽  
Sycarah Fisher ◽  
Chelsea Arsenault ◽  
Rachel Jacob ◽  
Jessica Barnes-Najor
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
School Climate ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moderating Role

African American Racial Identity and Learning

Education ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank C. Worrell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
European American ◽  
Black Racial Identity ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Racial identity is one of the most frequently studied cultural identities in the United States, and it is examined most frequently in relation to African Americans. Racial identity is also examined in European American samples to a lesser extent, and there is a growing literature on the racial identity of biracial and multiracial individuals. Racial identity and ethnic identity are similar constructs, and there are some researchers who do not distinguish between the constructs, using the terms and the measurement instruments interchangeably. However, as the instruments are developed in relation to theoretical models that speak to one or the other construct specifically (i.e., ethnic or racial identity), this perspective is not adopted in this article. Thus this article focuses solely on racial identity as a construct and does not include literature on ethnic identity or studies that used instruments developed to measure ethnic identity. The relationship between racial identity and learning, and more specifically academic achievement, is typically studied in the context of the achievement gap among racial and ethnic groups in the United States, and is most closely associated with the achievement gap between African American and European American students. Thus, studies of the relationship of racial identity to learning typically involve black racial identity but not white racial identity. In most of the scholarship in this area, researchers examine the relationship of black racial identity attitudes to academic achievement or other academic constructs (e.g., motivation). Additionally, two of the preeminent theories of underachievement in African Americans and other underachieving groups—that is, cultural ecological theory and stereotype threat—implicate racial identity as a contributing factor. Although there is a strong belief that racial identity is related to learning, there is still considerable debate about the contexts in which this relationship is manifested and the strength and explanatory power of the relationship, and the evidence in favor of a direct relationship between the racial identity and learning is mixed at best.

When Do Those High in Trait Self-Control Suffer From Strain?

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Kai Externbrink ◽  
Stefan Diestel ◽  
Martina Krings
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
Study Time ◽  
Self Control ◽  
The Other ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. We explore the limits of the protective function of trait self-control in coping with sources of stress. Inspired by integrative self-control theory (ISCT) we predict that trait self-control only buffers the relationship between self-control demands and irritation when individuals have to cope with one source of stress, whereas in cases of two stressors, trait self-control fails to attenuate adverse effects. Samples consisted of occupational students ( N = 163) and partly or fully or not formally employed students ( N = 135). Job-related self-control demands (SCDs) did not predict strain when trait self-control was high and the other stressor (academic SCDs or weekly study time) was low, whereas strain was disproportionally higher and predicted by SCDs when trait self-control was low or the other stressor was high.

Emotional Availability Scale Among Three U.S. Race/Ethnic Groups

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-430
Author(s):  
Della J. Derscheid ◽  
Louis F. Fogg ◽  
Wrenetha Julion ◽  
Mary E. Johnson ◽  
Sharon Tucker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emotional Availability ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Child Interaction ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Parent Child Interaction ◽  
Parent Child ◽  
Emotional Availability Scale

This study used a cross-sectional design to conduct a subgroup psychometric analysis of the Emotional Availability Scale among matched Hispanic ( n = 20), African American ( n = 20), and European American ( n = 10) English-speaking mother–child dyads in the United States. Differences by race/ethnicity were tested ( p < .05) among (a) Emotional Availability Scale dimensions with ANOVA, and (b) relationships of Emotional Availability Scale dimensions with select Dyadic Parent–Child Interaction Coding System variables with Pearson correlation and matched moderated regression. Internal consistency was .950 (Cronbach’s α; N = 50). No significant differences in the six Emotional Availability Scale dimension scores by race/ethnicity emerged. Two Dyadic Parent–Child Interaction Coding System behaviors predicted two Emotional Availability Scale dimensions each for Hispanic and African American mother–child dyads. Results suggest emotional availability similarity among race/ethnic subgroups with few predictive differences of emotional availability dimensions by specific behaviors for Hispanic and African American subgroups.

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