Perceived Parental Competence, Moral Neutralization, and Cognitive Impulsivity in Relation to Future Delinquency: Understanding the Socialization Process

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether perception preceded belief when it came to predicting delinquency. Perceived parental competence served as the first stage of a socialization process designed to reduce delinquency. The second stage of this process entailed obstructing antisocial belief in the form of moral neutralization or cognitive impulsivity. We hypothesized that moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity would mediate the relationship between perceived parental competence and delinquency in a model where perception preceded belief but that perceived parental competence would not mediate the relationship between neutralization/impulsivity and delinquency in a model where belief preceded perception. This hypothesis was tested in a group of 845 (406 boys, 439 girls) middle school (Grades 6-8) youth. Results from a three-wave prospective study revealed that moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity both mediated the perceived parental competence-delinquency relationship, whereas parental competence did not mediate the neutralization/impulsivity-delinquency relationship. When the two components of perceived parental competence—parental support and parental monitoring/control—were analyzed separately, only the monitoring-to-neutralization-to-delinquency path achieved significance.