Using three waves of data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this dissertation conducts a detailed examination of the effects of stable family structures and family structure disruptions during adolescence on adolescent delinquency and young adult criminality. In conducting this comprehensive examination, I investigate how school attachment, closeness to parents, and subjective distress mediate the effects of adolescent family structure and family structure disruptions on adolescent delinquency and young adult criminality. Family process and social control theories serve as the foundation for this examination.
In the short-term, living in a stable married stepfamily or a stable single-mother family significantly increases T2 delinquency compared to living in a stable two biological parent family. Experiencing any disruption in family structure, transitioning from a single-mother family to a two-parent family, and transitioning from a single-mother family to a cohabiting stepfamily between T1 & T2 increase T2 delinquency. In the long-term, experiencing any disruption in family structure or a single-mother family to two-parent family transition increases T3 self-reported criminal involvement. Living in a stable married stepfamily during adolescence (compared to living in a married two biological parent family) increases odds of a conviction in young adulthood. Experiencing a transition from a single-mother family to a two-parent family, single-mother family to married stepfamily, and single-mother family to cohabiting stepfamily also increase odds of a conviction between T2 & T3. All of these effects disappear once school attachment, closeness to parents, and subjective distress are introduced in the models. Subjective distress matters in both the short-term and the long-term. Closeness to father matters in the short-term for self-reported delinquency, while closeness to mother matters in the long-term for self-reported criminal involvement. Implications of these findings for current and future research are discussed.