Parents, Neighbors and Youth Crime

Carlos Díaz and Eleonora Patacchini ()
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Eleonora Patacchini: Cornell University

No 13906, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the interplay between parental and peer socialization in shaping criminal behavior among adolescents. We develop a simple cultural transmission model where parents affect how society influences their children's decisions. The model predicts that parental and peer socialization are substitutes in the development of juvenile crime. We then take the model to the data using information on a representative sample of adolescents in the United States. Using the geographical distances be- tween residential addresses of individuals in the same grade and school to measure peer influences, we find that negative peer effects on juvenile crime are significantly lower for teenagers with engaged mothers. Consistently with the prediction of our model, this evidence reveals an important role of parents in mediating the impact of neighborhoods on youth crime. The influence of parents is especially important for drug trafficking, assault and battery.

Keywords: neighborhood peer effects; juvenile delinquency; parental involvement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 K42 R11 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law, nep-net, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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