The Family Multiplier: Understanding Delinquency and Parent-Adolescent Interactions

Marc K. Chan, Sriya Iyer, Kai Liu and Anwen Zhang

Cambridge Working Papers in Economics from Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge

Abstract: Adolescent delinquency strongly predicts later-life outcomes, yet little is known about how parents interact with children and their social environment in shaping delinquency. We estimate a simultaneous equilibrium model of parenting and delinquency that distinguishes between direct technological effects of the social environment and feedback effects arising from parental responses, with the family multiplier capturing the strength of feedback. Parental control reduces delinquency, yet parents reduce control when perceived delinquency rises, reinforcing peer influences. Feedback effects amplify delinquency disparities arising from children’s genetic risk-taking endowments by one-quarter. Incentivizing parental engagement could change baseline delinquency substantially and transform reinforcement into mitigation.

Date: 2026-05-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cam:camdae:2641

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