ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0359-3429
Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Psychology (Ph.D.)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Raymond DiGiuseppe
Second Advisor
William Chapiln
Third Advisor
Tamara Del Vecchio
Abstract
Parental criminal justice system involvement (CJSI) affects a significant portion of our children in a multitude of ways, including increasing the child’s risk for developing antisocial behaviors and, in doing so, perpetuating the intergenerational cycle of criminal offending that uniquely and unjustly afflicts marginalized communities of color and leaves behind what many have termed the ‘hidden victims’ of CJSI. This dissertation aimed to answer two research questions: 1. Does the division into two categories, the aggression, and rule breaking dimensions, provide a superior fitting model than the more commonly used unidimensional measure?; 2. Is it more accurate to model the effects of parental CJSI on aggression, rule breaking, or antisocial behavior in children as mediated by both parental (parenting style or parental monitoring) and peer variables (peer relations or peer delinquency) or only the former? These research questions were answered using data derived from CJSI parents, their children, and geographically-/age-matched controls. These were predominantly families from low-income neighborhoods in the South Bronx. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and path analyses were used to answer these research questions by comparing different models. The significance of this line of research, and similar lines of research, lay in implications we may derive about the mental health of a significant portion of children affected by parental CJSI. Beyond the importance of targeting this population for research due to their susceptibility to developing antisocial behavior, these children may be the keys to thwarting a raging intergenerational cycle of CJSI that serves to further marginalize our underserved communities, especially minority populations, and communities of color.
Recommended Citation
Tio, David Alfonso, "TESTING MEDIATION MODELS OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN THE CONTEXT OF PARENTAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM INVOLVEMENT" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 890.
https://scholar.stjohns.edu/theses_dissertations/890