The Effect of Family Structure on Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there have been significant changes in family structures and living arrangements. With the rise of single parent families and stepfamilies, it is important to study the impact of these changing arrangements on adolescent behavior. This paper explores the relationship between living in different family structures and the incidence of juvenile delinquency through the analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) during the 1994-1995 school year. The results indicate that adolescents in single parent families are significantly more delinquent than adolescents in two parent families. Also, living with stepfamilies does not seem to have a significant impact on juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, while family structure does impact juvenile delinquency when delinquency is a measure of all delinquent acts, family structure does not have much of an impact on specific delinquent acts.