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The Impact of Income and Family Structure on Delinquency

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Author Info
William S. Comanor (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Llad Phillips (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Abstract

There is no more important issue in the economics of the family than the impact of parents on the behavior of their children. By providing rewards and imposing constraints, parents seek to affect their children’s behavior. The explanation of these actions is that the child’s conduct directly enters into the parent’s utility function. In this paper, we use that framework to explore the role of parental control over his or her child’s delinquent behavior. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we estimate the impact of family income and various dimensions of family structure on a youth’s contact with the criminal justice system between the ages of 14 and 22. From this analysis, we conclude that the single most important factor affecting these measures of delinquency is the presence of his father in the home. All other factors, including family income, are much less important.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Universidad del CEMA in its journal Journal of Applied Economics.

Volume (Year): V (2002)
Issue (Month): (November)
Pages: 209-232
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:cem:jaecon:v:5:y:2002:n:2:p:209-232

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Related research
Keywords: family structure; delinquency; role of fathers; role of mothers;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. David M. Blau, 1999. "The Effect Of Income On Child Development," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 261-276, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Gary Painter & David I. Levine, 2004. "Daddies, Devotion, and Dollars," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 63(4), pages 813-850, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Gerald S. Oettinger, 1999. "The Effects of Sex Education on Teen Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(3), pages 606-635, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Steven D. Levitt, 1998. "Juvenile Crime and Punishment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1156-1185, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Weiss, Yoram & Willis, Robert J, 1985. "Children as Collective Goods and Divorce Settlements," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 268-92, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Anne Case & I-Fen Lin & Sara McLanahan, 1999. "Household Resource Allocation in Stepfamilies: Darwin Reflects on the Plight of Cinderella," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 234-238, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
  8. Ted Bergstrom, 1989. "A Fresh Look at the Rotten Kid Theorem--And Other Household Mysteries," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 1989A, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
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  9. David Card, 1994. "Earnings, Schooling, and Ability Revisited," NBER Working Papers 4832, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard & Eric Helland, 2001. "Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use, and Crime? Evidence from Divorce Law Changes," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 8-02, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2002. "Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use and Crime?," Claremont Colleges Working Papers 2002-23, Claremont Colleges. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Matsushita, Raul & Baldo, Dinora & Martin, Bruna & Da Silva, Sergio, 2007. "The biological basis of expected utility anomalies," MPRA Paper 4520, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Theodore Bergstrom, 2003. "An Evolutionary View of Family Conflict and Cooperation," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 2003D, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2007. "Does single parenthood increase the probability of teenage promiscuity, substance use, and crime?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 55-71, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Ted Bergstrom, 2007. "Some Evolutionary Economics of Family Partnerships," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 2007b, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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