Parenting as a Protective Factor against Criminogenic Settings? Interaction Effects between Three Aspects of Parenting and Unstructured Socializing in Disordered Areas

Objectives: We examined the extent to which different aspects of parenting are able to moderate the association between spending time unstructured socializing (US) in urban areas with high disorder and adolescent delinquency. Methods: We used detailed data on time use, disorder in neighborhoods, parenting, and delinquency among 603 adolescents (aged 11–17 at T1) from the study of peers, activities, and neighborhoods, a two-wave longitudinal study with an interval of two years between measurements. Longitudinal multilevel analyses were used to examine interactions effects between parenting aspects and mean differences as well as individual changes in time spent unstructured socializing in areas with high disorder. Results: We did not find between-person level interaction effects between parenting and time spent in criminogenic settings. Our cross-level analyses, however, indicated that levels of parental monitoring as well as the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship mitigated the effects of changes in time spent in criminogenic settings. Conclusions: Whether increases in time spent in criminogenic settings are related to increases in delinquency seems to be conditional on the level of parental monitoring and the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. If these aspects of parenting are sufficient, changes in time spent in criminogenic settings are not necessarily detrimental.

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