Exploring Intergenerational Discontinuity in Problem Behavior

• Author: Marvin D. Krohn,Beidi Dong
• Published date: 01 April 2015
• Date: 01 April 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1541204014527119
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
2015, Vol. 13(2) 99-122
Exploring Intergenerational
ª The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/1541204014527119
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Behavior: Bad Parents
With Good Children
Beidi Dong1 and Marvin D. Krohn1
Abstract
Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a series of regression models are esti-
mated on offspring problem behavior with a focus on the interaction between parental history of
delinquency and the parent–child relationship. Good parenting practices significantly interact with
the particular shape of parental propensity of offending over time, functioning as protective factors
to protect against problematic behaviors among those who are most at risk. The moderation effects
vary slightly by the age of our subjects. Accordingly, it is important to distinguish the effect of not
only the level of parental delinquency at one point in time but also the shape of the delinquency
trajectory on outcomes for their children. Good parenting holds the hope of breaking the vicious
cycle of intergenerational transmission of delinquency.
Keywords
intergenerational discontinuity, protection, moderation, trajectory groups
Introduction
There is a well-established literature indicating that antisocial behaviors recur in the same families
over the course of multiple generations (e.g., Farrington, 2011; Moffitt & Caspi, 2003; Thornberry,
2009). Existing studies, however, have also demonstrated that estimates of the strength of the rela-
tionship between parents’ and children’s delinquency, although significant, are not particularly
large in magnitude. Methodologically rigorous studies typically find a significant correlation of
around .30 in problem behavior across generations (e.g., Bailey, Hill, Oesterle, & Hawkins, 2009;
Kaplan & Liu, 1999; Thornberry, Krohn, & Freeman-Gallant, 2006). This implies that, in addition to
intergenerational continuity of delinquency, there exists a substantial degree of intergenerational discon-
tinuity. The phenomenon of ‘‘bad1 parents with good children’’ needs to be explored as well.
1 Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Corresponding Author:
Beidi Dong, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, 3219 Turlington Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville,
FL 32611, USA.
Email: dream10y@ufl.edu

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100
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 13(2)
To date, a study of intergenerational discontinuity has little precedent in criminological literature.
Few efforts have been made to trace the life course of adjacent generations to explore how the
‘‘vicious cycle’’ of antisocial behaviors within families might be broken. In order to uncover the
principle processes by which discontinuity occurs, this study draws from two major lines of prior
research. The major conceptual components are derived from existing studies on intergenerational
continuity of problem behavior. Through understanding how problem behaviors are transmitted
across generations, we obtain insights on potential factors and mechanisms that may buffer preex-
isting risk, which are central to intergenerational discontinuity study. The current study also relies
upon within-generation studies of nondelinquents who live in high-risk circumstances. It is hoped
that this study broadens the applicability of the notion of ‘‘resilience’’ into an intergenerational
framework (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000).
The current study thus aims to add to the small literature that investigates intergenerational dis-
continuity of problem behavior, identifying factors and associated mechanisms that moderate the
negative effects of having parents with delinquent histories. Using prospective longitudinal data
from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), and its follow-up, the Rochester Interge-
nerational Study (RIGS), this article addresses three main research questions.
The first is the impact of a parent’s own delinquent career on the likelihood that their chil-
dren will also be involved in problem behavior at similar life stages. Trajectories of parental
propensity of offending over time are used as the primary risk factor of interest. Following
a couple of studies that have used the same approach, this study describes how different shapes
of offending trajectories may differentially impact the transmission of delinquency to their off-
spring. From a policy perspective, individuals who are low or already declining in their risk
level might not respond to or need intervention, whereas others who are still increasing in their
risk level or deeply involved in criminal offending may respond to intense multifaceted pro-
grams that would be largely wasted on less entrenched individuals. It is thus inefficient and
costly to intervene with everyone regardless of his or her risk level (Andrews, Bonta, &
Wormith, 2006; Krohn, Lizotte, Bushway, Schmidt, and Phillips, 2014; Laub, Nagin, & Samp-
son, 1998).
Second and most importantly, this study examines whether a good parent–child relationship
may buffer or moderate the impact of the risk that parental history of delinquency represents.
In other words, we seek to discover factors embedded in the parent–child relationship that protect
the children in the face of the risk that parental involvement in adolescent delinquency represents.
Most parents with a delinquent history do not want their children to follow in their footsteps (Far-
rington, Jolliffe, Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Kalb, 2001; Giordano, Cernkovich, & Rudolph,
2002). It is entirely possible for delinquent adolescents who eventually become parents to develop
positive features as adults that protect their offspring from antisocial behavior. Children can obtain
protection against antisocial behavior from a healthy relationship with their parents even if their
parents used to be juvenile delinquents (Hirschi, 1969). From a ‘‘general prevention’’ mind-set,
efforts have been made to identify possible factors and mechanisms that mediate intergenerational
transmission of delinquency. Beyond that, the current investigation specifically examines the
interaction or moderation effect of a good parent–child relationship on the probability of their chil-
dren engaging in antisocial behavior for those whose parents have participated in delinquent
behavior.
The third research objective is to examine whether protection effects from a good parent–child
relationship vary by the age of the child. We investigate these relationships for children when they
were in childhood versus when they were in their adolescent years. Existing literature has largely
suggested that the influence of family, particularly parents, decreases with the aging of the next
generation (e.g., Farrington, Loeber, Jolliffe, & Pardini, 2008; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990;
Thornberry & Krohn, 2005).

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Dong and Krohn
101
Intergenerational Continuity in Problem Behavior
To explain intergenerational continuity in problem behavior, it is important to uncover the multifa-
ceted processes involved in the transmission of risk. The full explanation of how parent’s involve-
ment in antisocial behavior influences children’s involvement is obviously complex. Explanations
range from genetic models in which the transmission of risk is direct from parent to child, to shared
environment models in which the continuity is produced by each generation responding in similar
ways to similar environmental stimuli. Elaborating on all possible influences in the transmission
of risk is beyond the scope of this article. The current study relies on Thornberry’s (2005) interge-
nerational model of problem behavior to address this issue. Not only is Thornberry’s model useful
for understanding intergenerational continuity, it is also possible to apply it when explaining how
cases of discontinuity might develop.
Thornberry’s (2005) intergenerational model of continuity begins with the hypothesis that Gen-
eration 1 (G1) family characteristics, including structural adversity, weak bonding to and involve-
ment with the family, ineffective parenting and drug use, increase the likelihood of Generation
2 (G2) antisocial behavior, and place G2 on a high-risk trajectory that strongly predicts later devel-
opmental problems and unsuccessful transitions to adult statues.2 Of particular importance is the
transition to parenthood. Adolescent drug use and antisocial behavior increase the likelihood of
G2 becoming a teen parent. In turn, early parenthood and other disorderly life-course transitions
translate into structural adversity, adverse life events, and emergent adulthood antisocial behavior
of G2, which further lessens G2 emergent adulthood prosocial bonds.
As Thornberry (2005) suggested, the developmental processes discussed up to this point have
intergenerational consequences for Generation 3 (G3) children. That is, antisocial G2 subjects fol-
low a life path that increases the likelihood of G3 delinquency. G2 antisocial behavior, for instance,
may directly affect G3 antisocial behavior through G3’s imitation of antisocial behavior after expo-
sure to G2’s delinquent acts and values. Although these effects can affect the G3 child directly,
Thornberry (2005) emphasized that ‘‘the dominant pathway is indirect, mediated by family pro-
cesses like family conflict, hostility, and especially by the quality of parenting’’ (p. 183). Low affec-
tive ties and involvement with a child, and inconsistent monitoring and standard setting are likely to
be...