A CROSS-CULTURAL-STUDY OF FAMILY AND PEER CORRELATES OF ADOLESCENT MISCONDUCT

Participants were 4 groups of early adolescents from middle-class back grounds (European and Chinese Americans in southern California and Chi nese in Taipei, Taiwan, and Beijing, China). The 591 adolescents (M ag e = 13.8 years) completed questionnaires about their involvement in mi sconduct and about family and peer characteristics. Mothers of a subsa mple of adolescents (n = 405) also completed a questionnaire about the ir relationships with their adolescents. The 4 groups of adolescents r eported significantly different mean levels of family and peer correla tes but showed strikingly similar levels and patterns of self-reported misconduct. Structural equation models revealed that 2 latent variabl es (family relationships and peer sanctions) accounted for more varian ce in misconduct among European and Chinese American adolescents (51%- 62%) than among the 2 Chinese groups (15%-24%), mainly because of a gr eater contribution of peer factors in the former groups.