Moving Beyond Fatherhood Involvement: The Association Between Father–Child Relationship Quality and Youth Delinquency Trajectories

• Author: Amy Lopez,Jamie R. Yoder,Daniel Brisson
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12197
• Published date: 01 July 2016
• Date: 01 July 2016

J R. Y Ohio State University

D B  A L University of Denver

Moving Beyond Fatherhood Involvement: The

Association Between Father–Child Relationship

Quality and Youth Delinquency Trajectories

The effect of nonresidential father relation-

ship characteristics on delinquency trajecto-

ries among low-income youth (N=799) was

examined using data from the Three Cities

Study, a longitudinal study of mothers and their

children eligible for Temporary Assistance for

Needy Families in Boston, Chicago, and San

Antonio. Growth curve models wereemployed to

track delinquency trajectories and their rate of

growth. Characteristics of father–child relation-

ships (anger–alienation, trust–communication)

were specied as predictors of delinquency

while controlling for father involvement and

family structure. Trust–communication inu-

enced delinquency growth, but the rate of

growth slowed as youth aged. Implications

for programs, interventions, and policy are

explored.

Scholars have delineated two groups of youth

offenders: life course persisting and adoles-

cent limited (Loeber, 1985; Moft, 1993).

Youth who are life-course-persisting typically

College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, 325D

Stillman Hall, 1947 College Rd, Columbus, OH 43210

(yoder.333@osu.edu).

Key Words: Antisocial/delinquent behavior, attachment,

fathers and fatherhood.

manifest behavior problems much earlier (Loe-

ber & LeBlanc, 1990; Moft, 1993) and are

often exposed to certain factors that increase

propensity for ongoing delinquency (Loeber,

1985; Loeber & Burke, 2011; Loeber et al.,

1993). There are many social determinants

of delinquency, but parent–child attachments

are consistently documented among the most

inuential (Farrington, Coid, & Murray, 2009;

Laub & Sampson, 1988), as parents are integral

in the development of youth socialization and

behavioral patterns (Schaffer, Clark, & Jeglic,

2009). Fathers, specically, can inuence youth

cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes

(Bronte-Tinkew, Moore, & Carrano, 2006)

and have been identied as a correlate to the

development (Cobb-Clark & Tekin, 2011; King,

Mitchell, & Hawkins, 2010; Rosen, 1985)

and maintenance (Coley & Medeiros, 2007)

of delinquent behaviors. For example, youth

followed between the ages of 9 to 18 years had

worse developmental trajectories with regard to

frequency of engaging in physical aggression

(physical ghts or pushing others) if they were

from a single-parent family or if they had a

permissive parent (Ehrenreich, Beron, Brinkley,

& Underwood, 2014).

Little is known about how delinquency tra-

jectories change in the context of children’s

attachment with nonresidential fathers. The

absence of a father in the household can be

mitigated by supportive or positive interactions

462 Family Relations 65 (July 2016): 462–476

DOI:10.1111/fare.12197