Method Introduction Discussion Participants: Data came from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The analysis included 2277 African American (M age = 15.12) and 5973 European American adolescents (M age = 14.86), split evenly by gender. Sixty-two percent of the European Americans and 31% of the African Americans reported living with two parents. Measures: Public Assistance (Parent report, α =.69); 3 items – e.g., “Last month, did you or any member of your household receive: Food stamps? Neighborhood Problems (Parent report, α =.67); 5 items – e.g., “How much would you like to move away from this neighborhood?” Neighborhood Cohesion (Adolescent report, α =.55); 4 items – e.g., “Do you usually feel safe in your neighborhood?” Decision Making Autonomy (α =.74); 7 items – e.g., “Do your parents let you make your own decisions about the people you hang around with?” Maternal Support (α =.84); 5 items – e.g., “How much do you think your mother cares about you?” Deviant Friends ( α=.76); 3 items, “How many of your three best friends smoke cigarettes/drink alcohol/have used marijuana? Delinquency (α=.83); 14 items – e.g., “In the past 12 months, how often did you deliberately damage property that didn’t belong to you?” Relations Among Parenting, Deviant Friends, and Delinquency for African American and European American Youth Lisa J. Crockett, Jennifer M. Wolff & Arielle Deutsch University of Nebraska-Lincoln Parental support and control and adolescents’ affiliation with deviant peers have each been implicated in delinquent behavior, with some evidence that deviant peer affiliation mediates the relations between parenting practices and delinquency. However, less is known about ethnic differences in these pathways. Prior research suggests that the effects of parenting practices may differ for African Americans and European Americans such that stricter parental control is especially beneficial for preventing delinquent behavior among African Americans. In addition, some studies have reported ethnic differences in the relation between deviant peer affiliation and delinquency, although findings are mixed. Thus, the pathways linking parenting, deviant peer affiliation and delinquency may vary across ethnic groups. Previous research has also explored the role that neighborhood context has in parenting practices and affiliation with deviant peers. For instance, living in a high-risk neighborhood may have a negative influence on parenting (due to increased stress) and may also provide increased opportunity for associating with deviant peers. In this longitudinal study, we examined the role of neighborhood context, maternal support, parental control (operationalized as adolescent decision-making autonomy), and deviant friends in predicting delinquency among African American and European American adolescents. Research Hypotheses/Questions: For both ethnic groups, we predicted that maternal support would be negatively associated, and adolescents’ decision making autonomy positively associated, with deviant friends and delinquency. Furthermore, deviant peer affiliation would mediate the relation between decision making autonomy and delinquent behavior. Based on previous studies, we expected the association between decision making autonomy and delinquency to be stronger among African Americans than European Americans. We also tested for ethnic differences in the relation between deviant friends and delinquency. Finally, we explored the role of neighborhood context in shaping parenting practices and the relations between parenting practices, deviant peer affiliation and delinquency. Results Structural equation models (SEM) were used to examine the relations among background variables, parenting, deviant friends, and adolescent delinquency. First, a single group SEM was tested in each ethnic group. Next, two- group SEMs were used to examine ethnic differences in the structural model. An unconstrained model (Figure 1) was compared to one in which corresponding structural paths were constrained to be equal across ethnic groups. Finally, within each ethnic group, two-group SEMs were used to compare the structural paths for adolescents in higher risk versus lower risk neighborhoods. The unconstrained model showed good fit, χ² (289) = , p <.001. CFI=.94, RMSEA =.03, SRMR=.03. Maternal support had a direct effect on delinquency, whereas decision-making autonomy operated indirectly through deviant friends. Deviant friends fully mediated the relation between autonomy and delinquency in both ethnic groups. When this model was compared to one in which corresponding structural paths were constrained to be equal across ethnic groups, the χ² difference test was significant, indicating ethnic differences in the structural model, Δχ² (20) = , p <.001. Additional SEMs revealed that specific paths differed significantly by ethnicity (Table 1). Notably, the relations between deviant friends and delinquency, mother support and deviant peers, and autonomy and deviant peers were stronger among European Americans than African Americans. Also, boys were significantly more likely to be delinquent among European Americans, but there was no gender difference among African Americans. Age was negatively associated with delinquency for European Americans, suggesting that younger adolescents were more likely to be delinquent, whereas age was positively associated with delinquency among African Americans. To explore possible neighborhood differences in the structural model, we divided the sample into those who lived in high risk vs. low risk neighborhoods based on the parent’s report. Two-group SEMs within each ethnic group indicated that the structural model did not vary significantly by neighborhood type for either ethnic group. Note: Unstandardized estimates; coefficients for African Americans are in ( ). Only significant paths shown, *p <.05; Figure 1. Two-group unconstrained SEM comparing African Americans and European Americans Autonomy Maternal Support Public Assistance Neighborhood Problems Neighborhood Cohesion Two Parents Gender Delinquency -.02*(-.02).00(.01*).02*(.01).03*(.01) Age.03*(.03*) -.10*(.03*) -.93*(-.86*) -.22*(.05) Deviant Peers -.02*(-.02*) -.01*(.00) 3.67*(1.54*) -2.58*(-1.32*).42*(.30*).12*(.07*).00(.01*) PathCoefficient for African Americans Coefficient for European Americans χ 2 Difference Age →Delinquency.03* -.10*50.71 Gender →Delinquency *13.71 Deviant friends →Delinquency.07*.12*11.58 Age →Deviant friends.30*.42* 4.75 Mother support →Deviant friends-1.32*-2.58*10.00 Autonomy →Deviant friends 1.54* 3.67* 5.73 Neighborhood cohesion →Autonomy.01* Neighborhood problems →Autonomy.01* Results supported effects of both parenting and deviant peer affiliation for African American and European American youth. As expected, maternal support was negatively related to having deviant friends and delinquency whereas autonomy was positively related to deviant friends, suggesting that low levels of maternal warmth and high levels of decision making autonomy each increase affiliation with deviant peers. Furthermore, maternal support showed a direct relation with delinquency, whereas the relation between decision-making autonomy and delinquency was fully mediated by deviant friends. This suggests that a lack of maternal support encourages delinquent behavior (and also increases affiliation with deviant peers), whereas allowing adolescents to make their own decisions primarily affords opportunities for associating with deviant peers. The important role of deviant peer affiliation is consistent with previous research. There was evidence of ethnic differences in the strength of particular paths leading to delinquency. The pathways from maternal support and decision making autonomy to deviant peer affiliation, and the pathway from deviant peers to delinquency, were stronger among European Americans than African Americans. There was no evidence of neighborhood differences in these paths, indicating that the paths leading to delinquent activities are similar for adolescents living in low-risk and high-risk neighborhoods. Overall, the findings suggest that the pathways to delinquency are similar for African American and European American youth, but that there are ethnic differences in the strength of specific pathways, with some paths being stronger for European Americans. Note: *p<.05 Table 1. Path Coefficients that Differed Significantly between African Americans and European Americans