Family functioning profiles, early onset of offending, and disadvantaged neighborhoods

Abstract

Few studies have examined which profiles of multiple aspects of family functioning are related to boys' offending. This paper identifies four different profiles of family functioning based on measures of supervision, communication, physical punishment, family instability, and parental deviance. The relationship of these profiles to neighborhood quality and to onset of offending was examined. The most well adjusted profile was under-represented in disadvantaged neighborhoods, whereas the profile with the most physical punishment and poor supervision was over-represented. The profile with the highest average score for family instability and, less strongly, poor communication, was most strongly related to early onset (age 4-6 versus age 7-9). The results underscore the notion that family functioning is best understood as a complex group of risk and protective factors that can relate to development of offending in dynamic ways.