Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232658 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13906
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
neighborhood peer effects
juvenile delinquency
parental involvement
JEL: 
J13
K42
R11
R23
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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