Family influences on adolescent depression and delinquency: Gender differences in risk

Using a community sample of 296 youth participating in a longitudinal study, this study sought to explore: (1) gender differences in rates and patterns of offending; (2) gender differences in pathways between childhood and adolescent family risk factors, adolescent depression, and juvenile delinquency and (3) childhood sexual abuse as a risk factor of female delinquency?; The findings reveal that boys self-report higher rates of lifetime participation in most types of delinquent acts. Similar patterns are found in official records. Gender differences also emerge in the frequency of offending with delinquent boys reporting higher frequencies of property destruction, theft over {dollar}50, and aggravated assault. Delinquent girls self-report running away with greater frequency than boys. Official reports indicate higher frequencies of drug, order, property, and sex offenses for boys. Significant gender differences also emerge in the context of violent offending. A significantly larger proportion of girls' violence is defined as violence against parents only as compared to male violence, which was distributed more evenly between family and community.; Structural equations models were initially run separately for girls and boys. Early exposure to family violence did not predict delinquency for either sex. It did influence later parenting practices for girls' only. Girls depression was also affected by current parenting practices. Parenting in adolescence did not predict girls' delinquency, although the relationship approached significance in the predicted direction. Only girls' depression was significantly related to girls' delinquency. For boys, the only significant relationship in the model was between parenting in adolescence and juvenile delinquency.; Although the patterns of associations between the girls' and boys' models appear to differ, multi-group structural equation models tested whether the pathways between constructs statistically differed by sex. Results from these analyses indicate that the pathways between parenting in adolescence and depression, and depression and delinquency are significantly more relevant for girls than for boys.; The final model including sexual abuse, was tested for girls only. Child sexual abuse affected parenting in adolescence and also predicted adolescent depression. Although childhood sexual abuse failed to directly predict delinquency, the pathway emerged as a trend.