Parental rearing: a comparison between juvenile delinquents and controls in Russia

Since parental maltreatment is commonly reported in studies of juvenile delinquency, our study aimed at a systematic investigation of perceived parental rearing by means of EMBU questionnaire in young male criminals (N = 190) compared to a matched control group (N = 120) in Russia. The results revealed significant differences between delinquents and non-delinquents in terms of the experience of more rejection, abuse, punishment and lack of emotional warmth in the former group. It became obvious that many of the differences were gender-specific, suggesting the crucial role of the fathers in the rearing practices towards their offsprings. The necessity of further study on the interrelationship between family variables and environmental correlates in an interactional model of delinquency is pointed out.