The Effects of Ecological Family Disadvantage on Male and Female Adolescent Delinquency

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and serial
indirect effects of ecological family disadvantage on adolescent
male and female delinquency through poor parental
monitoring and deviant peer association. Data used in this
paper are collected on a sample of 528 Croatian high-school
students (374 males) aged between 15 and 17. Participants
self-reported their delinquency, and completed questionnaires
about their familial disadvantage, parental monitoring, and
their association with deviant peers. PROCESS macro for SPSS
was used to test the proposed direct and indirect effects. The
results showed that ecological family disadvantage had a direct
effect on more pronounced male delinquency. There was no
significant serial indirect effect of ecological family
disadvantage on male delinquency through the two presumed
mediators, but there was significant indirect effect of ecological
family disadvantage on male delinquency through their
increased deviant peer association. In females, no significant
direct or indirect effects were found. The results point to gender
specific mechanisms by which ecological family disadvantage
contributes to adolescent delinquency, and thus make a
significant contribution to the literature on this topic.