The role of parenting and personal characteristics on deviant peer association among European American and Latino adolescents

This study examined both mothers’ and fathers’ parenting (positive and negative) and adolescents’ personal characteristics (religiosity, social initiative, aggression, depression) in relation to perceived deviant peer association for European American and Latino adolescents. Using structural equation modeling, adolescents’ reports of positive or negative mothering and fathering were found to be related to adolescents’ personal characteristics, and these characteristics were, in turn, related to perceived deviant peer association. Ethnic differences in means were found in both parenting and outcome variables, with European American adolescents reporting higher levels of positive parenting and social initiative, and lower levels of perceived deviant peer association than Latino adolescents. Despite these mean differences, no ethnic differences were found in the overall measurement or structural model, suggesting that this process functions similarly for these two ethnic groups.

Research highlights
► Mean score ethnic differences found for parenting and outcome variables.
► No significant difference found in SEM model by ethnicity.
► Positive parenting related to youth religiosity, social initiative and aggression.
► Negative parenting (mat) related to religiosity, social initiative and agression.
► Religiosity, social initiative and aggressionrelated to deviant peer association.