DO THE STEREOTYPES FIT? MAPPING GENDER‐SPECIFIC OUTCOMES AND RISK FACTORS*

In: Criminology: the official publication of the American Society of Criminology, Band 30, Heft 3, S. 397-420

Abstract

It has generally been accepted that boys and girls differ in their behavioral and emotional responses to stressful family events. These gender differences could be due to either different family risk factors affecting boys and girls or to boys coping differently in response to the same negative family events. These two alternative hypotheses form the basis of our analysis. Specifically, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we assess whether and how (1) marital discord, (2) marital stability and change, (3) harsh discipline, and (4) maternal deviance impact three different outcomes for males and females: delinquency, alcohol use, and depression. Multivariate analyses reveal that, although females generally display more vulnerabilities to specific dimensions of family life than males, the responses to these risk factors are not constrained to gender‐stereotypic outcomes.