Parental Nonstandard Work, Family Processes, and Delinquency During Adolescence

Although past research suggests that nonstandard parental work arrangements have negative implications for children, researchers typically assess the effects of maternal and paternal work schedules independently, and studies among older adolescents are rare. Combining insights from family sociology and criminology, we evaluate the effects of household work arrangements on family processes and delinquency among a national sample of 10- to 17-year-old children. We find that children from households where both parents work nonstandard hours report weaker levels of family bonding, which in turn is associated with greater delinquency. Children from single-mother households in which the mother works evening or night shifts report weaker levels of parent–child closeness and family bonding, which fully mediate the association with greater delinquency. We also find that select maternal nonstandard schedules in conjunction with paternal standard schedules are associated with lower delinquency among children. We der...