Beyond Peer Influence and Selection: A Gendered Pathways Analysis of Social Environmental Predictors of Change in Child and Peer Delinquency

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether maternal closeness and participation in unstructured routine activities differentially predicted change in child and peer delinquency for female and male youth above and beyond the effects of peer influence and selection. Participants were 3,370 (1,759 boys, 1,611 girls) members of the Fragile Families and Child Welfare Study. When regression analyses were performed on boys and girls separately, unstructured routine activities effectively predicted a rise in child and peer delinquency in boys and maternal closeness successfully predicted a drop in child and peer delinquency in girls, findings consistent with gendered pathways theory.