Delinquent and Criminal Behaviors of Parents and Their Adolescent Children: A Prospective Intergenerational Study of Children of Former Juvenile Offenders

This proposal would build upon the existing longitudinal Northwestern Juvenile Project (NJP). The NJP includes 1,829 youths (1,172 males and 657 females; 1,005 African American, 524 Hispanic, and 296 non-Hispanic white individuals), randomly sampled when they entered detention between 1995 and 1998 in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. The research team have collected 14 waves of data (including more than 15,000 interviews) from the NJP, beginning when participants were a median age of 15 years and spanning their development through adolescence and young adulthood. As this first generation of the research sample aged, many became parents of the second generation. The second-generation population is being examined under the Next Generation study, currently funded by the National Institute of Justice and National Institutes of Health. Next Generation focuses on intergenerational patterns of firearm violence, intergenerational transmission of substance abuse, and the consequences of parents’ incarceration for their children.

The proposed study would expand upon the sample of children included in the Next Generation study to include siblings and include variables on intergenerational resilience to delinquency and related risk and protective factors.

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF.