9311014 Matsueda This is a project to study the relationship between the family and juvenile delinquency. The researcher will use data from the longitudinal National Survey of Children to analyze the relative influence of family structure on delinquency and the extent to which factors such as marital and parent-child conflict, attachment to parents, communication styles, parental supervision, and styles of parental discipline mediate the influence of family structure on delinquent behavior. This project has potential to make important contributions to our theoretical understanding of both family dynamics and the sources of juvenile delinquency. Research on the connection between family structure and delinquency stretches back over more than half a century, and contemporary social commentators confidently proclaim their views on this connection. Yet up to now there have not been either suitable data or research projects with sufficient methodological sophistication to allow claims about family-delinquency links to be rigorously tested. This project, through its use of richer data and its theoretical and methodological sophistication, will make it possible to replace hunches and prejudice with scientific evidence. If this project is successful, it should provide a firmer basis for considering policy and interventions to help reduce juvenile delinquency. ***
