Unraveling Families and Delinquency: A Reanalysis of the Gluecks' Data

• NCJ Number: 113206
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1988) Pages: 355-380
• Date Published: 1988
• Author(s): J H Laub; R J Sampson
• Length: 26 pages
• Grant Number(s): 87-IJ-CX-0022
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub; Northeastern University Research
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Montreal, Quebec, November 13, 1987

Annotation

This research reanalyzes the original Glueck data from 'Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency' (1950), with a focus on variables relating to family characteristics of 500 officially defined delinquents and 500 nondelinquents.

Abstract

The research design of the Gluecks' study was strong, but the conceptual and statistical analyses were often lacking in methodological and theoretical rigor. Using multivariate analyses the current study found that mother's supervision, parental discipline styles, and parental attachment are the most important predictors of serious and persistent delinquency. On the other hand, background factors (e.g., parental criminality and drunkenness, broken homes, crowding) have little or no direct effect on delinquency, but instead operate through the family process variables. 4 tables, 48 references, 13 footnotes. (Author abstract modified)