Longitudinal Effects of Parenting Mediated by Deviant Peers on Violent and Non-Violent Antisocial Behaviour and Substance Use in Adolescence

The current work aimed to analyse the prospective effects of parenting practices on adolescent problematic behaviour taking into account the mediation effects of deviant affiliations in normative Spanish adolescents. For this purpose, a sample of 663 adolescents aged 12 to 15 (M = 12.49, SD = 0.68) and gender-balanced (54.3% male) were recruited from 13 state secondary schools in Galicia (NW Spain). Two structural equation models were tested separately on violent behaviour, nonviolent antisocial behaviour, and substance use: the parenting model analysed parental knowledge and parental support through deviant peers, and the sources model analysed adolescent disclosure, parental control, and parental solicitation through deviant peer affiliations. The results of the parenting model indicated that the effects of parental knowledge on all the types of problematic behaviour were significantly mediated by deviant peer affiliations. In addition, the direct effect of parental knowledge was significant on substance use for males. Regarding the sources model, the results indicated that the effects of adolescent disclosure were significantly mediated by deviant peer affiliations on all the types of problematic behaviour only for females. No significant effects of parental support, parental control, and parental solicitation were found. Methodological and practical implications of these findings are discussed.