Bidirectional Relationships Between Parenting Processes and Deviance in a Sample of Inner-City African American Youth

This study assessed bidirectional relationships among supportive parenting (knowledge), negative parenting (permissiveness), and deviance in a sample (N = 5,325) of poor, inner-city African American youth from the Mobile Youth Survey over 4 years. Cross-lagged path analysis provided evidence of significant bidirectional paths among parenting processes (knowledge and permissiveness) and deviance over time. Follow-up multigroup tests provided only modest evidence of dissimilar relationships by sex and by developmental periods. The findings improve our understanding of developmental changes between parenting behaviors and deviance during adolescence and extend current research of the bidirectionality of parent and child relationships among inner-city African American youth.