Family therapists have proposed that specific types of
family interactions are dysfunctional for the family system
and can produce long-term negative effects for the child.
They further propose that, for healthy family functioning to
be maintained, parental alliances must be sustained and
excessive cross-generational coalitions (parent-child
alliances) must be blocked. This fundamental assumption,
proposed by family therapists, has rarely been empirically
tested.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the
relationship between family interactional patterns and the
misconduct of adolescent males. Misconduct by the
adolescent was defined by the youth having contact with the
police due to delinquent behavior. Specifically, this study
was concerned with determining if cross-generational
coalitions, witnessed in parent-child interactions, were
predictive of later antisocial behavior on the part of the
adolescent while controlling for family structure, family
problem solving, marital satisfaction, parental conflict,
and child externality.
Subjects were 68 families consisting of mother, father
or stepfather, and son. The first family interaction
assessment took place in 1984-1985 when the child was 9.7
years old. The second assessment of family interaction
occurred two years later. Follow-up data on the
adolescent's delinquent behavior, assessed through county
court records, was last collected in 1991 when subjects were
15 to 16 years old. Families were paid for their
participation as part of their involvement in a larger study
(Capaldi & Patterson, 1987).
The results of logistic and multiple regression
analyses indicated no association between parent-child
coalitions and occurrence or the severity of delinquent
behavior. Both analyses did, however, find that family
problem-solving skills and a non-intact family structure
were significant predictors of later delinquency and of the
severity of the delinquency by the adolescent. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36489 |
| Date | 06 October 1992 |
| Creators | Coughlin, Chris D. |
| Contributors | Vuchinich, Samuel |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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