A cross-cultural study of family and peer correlates of adolescent misconduct

Dev Psychol. 1998 Jul;34(4):770-81. doi: 10.1037//0012-1649.34.4.770.

Abstract

Participants were 4 groups of early adolescents from middle-class backgrounds (European and Chinese Americans in southern California and Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, and Beijing, China). The 591 adolescents (M age = 13.8 years) completed questionnaires about their involvement in misconduct and about family and peer characteristics. Mothers of a subsample of adolescents (n = 405) also completed a questionnaire about their relationships with their adolescents. The 4 groups of adolescents reported significantly different mean levels of family and peer correlates but showed strikingly similar levels and patterns of self-reported misconduct. Structural equation models revealed that 2 latent variables (family relationships and peer sanctions) accounted for more variance in misconduct among European and Chinese American adolescents (51%-62%) than among the 2 Chinese groups (15%-24%), mainly because of a greater contribution of peer factors in the former groups.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior / ethnology*
  • China
  • Cultural Characteristics*
  • Dangerous Behavior
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Parenting
  • Peer Group
  • Social Adjustment*
  • United States