The impact of family structure during adolescence on deviance in early adulthood

Using three waves of panel data (N = 2,931), the authors estimated a structural equation model to test the direct and indirect effect of family structure during early adolescence on forestalling deviance in early adulthood. Family structure is hypothesized to affect young adult deviance through four intervening processes during adolescence: parent-child relationship, commitment to conventional values, association with deviant peers, and subjective distress. The direct effect from family structure on deviance in early adulthood was found to persist after the significant mediating processes during adolescence were taken into account. The results are consistent with the view that considers family disruption as a gradual disintegration process as opposed to a fatal accident with an immediate impact.