Procedural Justice in Family Conflict Resolution and Deviant Peer Group Involvement Among Adolescents: The Mediating Influence of Peer Conflict

The involvement of adolescents with deviant peer groups is one of the strongest proximal correlates to juvenile delinquency and stems from a variety of causes. Past research has linked ineffective parenting with peer variables, including deviant peer group involvement and peer conflict during adolescence. In this study, adolescents’ appraisals of procedural justice within the family (adolescents’ appraisals of how fairly they are treated by parents in the process of resolving family conflict) were examined as one aspect of effective parenting that may relate to deviant peer group involvement in early adolescence. Data from 1660 middle school students (ages 11–14, mean = 12.6) indicated that higher appraisals by adolescents of procedural justice during family conflict resolution were related to lower levels of both peer conflict and deviant peer group involvement. A structural model was tested in which the relationship between adolescents’ appraisals of procedural justice in the family and deviant peer group involvement was partially mediated by measures of peer conflict. This model was found to have adequate fit to the data, indicating that part of the relationship between procedural justice appraisals and deviant peer group involvement can be explained by levels of peer conflict. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Mark FondacaroEmail:

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Jennifer L. Stuart   is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Florida. Her research interests include adolescent development and juvenile justice. Mark R. Fondacaro   is a Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice—CUNY. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. His major research interests are ecological jurisprudence and the conceptualization and assessment of procedural justice in legal and extra-legal contexts including the family and the juvenile justice and health care systems. Scott A. Miller   is Professor of Psychology at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Child Development from the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on cognitive development in children. Veda E. Brown   is an Assistant Professor of Juvenile Justice and Psychology at Prairie View A&M University, Texas. Her research interests include cognitive development in early childhood, especially with reference to the role of parents. Eve M. Brank   is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Florida. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology and her J.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Law/Psychology program. Her research focuses primarily on families, juveniles, and especially parental responsibility laws.