Testing Interactional Theory: An Examination of Reciprocal Causal Relationships among Family, School, and Delinquency

Abstract

Attachment to parents and commitment to school are important buffers against delinquency. Adolescents who are emotionally bonded to their parents and who succeed at school are unlikely candidates for serious delinquency. These relationships have strong empirical support. In addition, however, it is possible that frequent involvement in delinquency can cause a substantial deterioration in the emotional bond between parent and child and in the adolescent's commitment to school. Indeed, an interactional perspective argues that bidirectional or reciprocal causal influences such as these are more accurate representations of how delinquency develops over the life-course. The present paper tests an interactional model for these variables using the first three waves of data from the Rochester Youth Development Study. Results strongly suggest that the causes of delinquency are more complex than originally thought. While weakened bonds to family and school do cause delinquency, delinquent behavior further attenuates the strength of the bonds to family and school, thereby establishing a behavioral trajectory towards increasing delinquency.