The concept of self-control has been used to account for a wide variety of outcomes, both criminal and otherwise. Recently, researchers have started investigating associations between parental selfcontrol and family functioning. This study expands this area of research by assessing the extent to which parental low self-control and official involvement in juvenile delinquency is associated with parental exasperation among a sample of parents whose children have been processed through a juvenile justice assessment facility. The results indicate that parents who are lower in selfcontrol and whose children have had more extensive involvement in officially recorded delinquency report greater exasperation regarding their children.

1. Article
At the End of Their Rope:
A Research Note on the
Influence of Parental Low
Self-Control and Juvenile
Delinquency on Parental
Exasperation
Ryan C. Meldrum1
, Teresa M. Encalada1
,
and George M. Connolly1
Abstract
The concept of self-control has been used to account for a wide variety of outcomes, both criminal
and otherwise. Recently, researchers have started investigating associations between parental self-
control and family functioning. This study expands this area of research by assessing the extent to
which parental low self-control and official involvement in juvenile delinquency is associated with
parental exasperation among a sample of parents (N ¼ 101) whose children have been processed
through a juvenile justice assessment facility. The results indicate that parents who are lower in self-
control and whose children have had more extensive involvement in officially recorded delinquency
report greater exasperation regarding their children. In addition, the data indicate the effect of
parental low self-control on parental exasperation is stronger at higher levels of delinquent behavior.
The implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed.
Keywords
self-control, parental exasperation, juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice system, official records
Since its inception 25 years ago, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) self-control theory has been
widely tested, debated, and scrutinized (see Hay & Meldrum, 2015). At its core, the theory centers
on the concept of low self-control, with Gottfredson and Hirschi arguing that, ‘‘ . . . people who lack
self-control will tend to be impulsive, insensitive, physical (as opposed to mental), risk-taking,
shortsighted, and nonverbal, and they will tend therefore to engage in criminal and analogous acts’’
(Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990, p. 90). Understandably, given that the primary focus of the theory is
1
Department of Criminal Justice, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
Corresponding Author:
Ryan C. Meldrum, Department of Criminal Justice, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St., PCA-364B, Miami, FL
33199, USA.
Email: rmeldrum@fiu.edu
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
1-11
ª The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1541204016635258
yvj.sagepub.com
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

2. providing an explanation for delinquent and criminal behavior, the majority of research testing it has
focused on illegal behavior. However, many researchers have sought to expand the boundaries of the
theory by investigating other outcomes that might be explained by a lack of self-control.
Considering the elements of low self-control as described by Gottfredson and Hirschi, it is
perhaps not surprising research finds low self-control is associated with a wide variety of undesirable
outcomes. These include, among other things, exposure to criminal victimization (Pratt, Turanovic,
Fox, & Wright, 2014), poor physical and mental health (Miller, Barnes, & Beaver, 2011; Moffitt
et al., 2011), financial instability (Moffitt et al., 2011), and problems within interpersonal relation-
ships (Vohs, Finkenauer, & Baumeister, 2011). Pertinent to the focus of the current study, a growing
body of research has investigated the implications of self-control for family functioning by focusing
on parental self-control and the attitudes and behaviors of parents.1
In this regard, recent research
finds that parents who are lower in self-control are less likely to employ effective parenting prac-
tices, such as monitoring and discipline (Meldrum, Connolly, Flexon, & Guerrete, 2015; Meldrum,
Young, & Lehmann, 2015; Nofziger, 2008; Verhoeven, Junger, Van Aken, Dekovic´, & Van Aken,
2007); less likely to be involved with and show affection toward their children (Boutwell & Beaver,
2010); and more likely to report the potential for engaging in child abuse (Henschel, de Bruin, &
Mo¨hler, 2014).
Yet, there are notable gaps in this area of research given its infancy. One gap which we focus on
in this study is the potential role that parental self-control plays within families of adolescents
involved in the juvenile justice system (JJS). In particular, there is accumulating evidence that many
parents of juvenile offenders report feelings of exasperation with regard to their child (Cook &
Gordon, 2012; Glaser, Calhoun, & Puder, 2005; Rose, Glaser, Calhoun, & Bates, 2004). Rose,
Glaser, Calhoun, and Bates (2004, pp. 34–35), who were the first to empirically measure parental
exasperation, state the construct taps into the extent to which a parent has ‘‘had it up to here with this
child.’’ Expounding on this, Cook and Gordon (2012, p. 212) state that parental exasperation
embodies ‘‘feelings and thoughts of anger, despondence, and hopelessness as felt by the parent/
guardian in reference to the child.’’
Given the emotional and financial toll adolescent involvement in serious delinquency can take on
families, it might be expected, as early research has found, that parental exasperation is more
frequently reported by parents whose children engage in greater delinquency (Bradshaw, Glaser,
Calhoun, & Bates, 2006). Research also points to the possibility that parental exasperation is
positively associated with future juvenile offending (Glaser et al., 2005), though a more recent study
failed to replicate this finding (Cook & Gordon, 2012). Still, with so few studies having investigated
the causes and consequences of parental exasperation, there is a clear need for additional research.
We believe it is in this regard when focusing on the causes of parental exasperation that parental self-
control may play a critical role.
Given what is known about individuals who are low in self-control, it seems likely that parental
low self-control would be positively associated with a greater likelihood of reporting feelings of
exasperation. Parenting requires patience, diligence, and frequently placing the needs and desires of
children ahead of one’s own needs. Accordingly, parents who are self-centered, shortsighted, and
impulsive (key elements of low self-control) should arguably be less likely to report wanting to
persist in their parenting responsibilities when the behavior of their child has become so problematic
that it has attracted the attention, sometimes repeatedly, of the JJS. Considering this potential
association between parental low self-control and parental exasperation is important for at least two
reasons. First, doing so expands the applicability of self-control theory and what it can be used to
explain by focusing attention on the implications of low self-control during adulthood. Second, and
perhaps more important, it focuses attention on the behavior and attitudes of parents of juvenile
offenders in addition to juveniles themselves, something which several researchers have noted is
sorely needed in juvenile justice research (Bradshaw et al., 2006; Glaser et al., 2005).
2 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

3. In addition to a focus on parental low self-control as a potential contributor for understanding
variation in parental exasperation, it is reasonable to expect that the more involved an adolescent is
in the JJS (i.e., has a more extensive history of arrests and charges), the more likely a parent would
be to report feelings of exasperation.2
Involvement in the justice system likely contributes to
feelings of anger, frustration, and disappointment by parents. Moreover, it frequently requires a
significant amount of time, energy, and money on the part of parents to, among other things, make
sure their child appears in court and satisfies certain court-mandated conditions such as drug
testing and counseling. Other complications, such as having to take time off from work to deal
with the aforementioned responsibilities, may further contribute to feelings of exasperation on the
part of parents.
Given the above discussion, we seek in this study to test the hypothesis that parental low self-
control and the extent of adolescent involvement in the JJS will each be positively associated with
parental reports of exasperation with regard to their child. In addition to assessing the independent
effects of these variables on parental exasperation, we test a second hypothesis: The effect of
parental low self-control on parental exasperation will be conditioned by the extent of adolescent
involvement in the JJS. Specifically, we anticipate the effect of parental low self-control on parental
exasperation will be stronger for parents whose children have had greater involvement in the JJS, as
indicated by the number of charges they have accumulated.
Method
Data and Procedures
To test the above hypotheses, original data were collected from two sources. First, survey data were
collected from parents of juveniles processed through a juvenile justice assessment facility in a rural
county located in the southeastern United States from September 2013 to July 2014. Second, it draws
on official records pertaining to the juveniles whose parents completed the survey questionnaires.
Upon obtaining appropriate institutional review board approval and support from administrators at
the facility to conduct the study, one of the research team members, who works at the facility as a
senior juvenile probation officer, invited parents to participate in a study focused on understanding
the factors that contribute to delinquent behavior by their children. Invitations to participate took
place when parents came to pick up their child from the facility after being processed for one or more
law violations (prior to being prosecuted), or during conferences that are periodically held with
parents whose children have been placed on home detention.3
When more than one parent came to
the facility, it was specified that only one parent needed to complete the survey questionnaire, which
was typically done by mothers. Parents were told that participation was voluntary, that in no way
would choosing or refusing to participate have an impact on the treatment and disposition of their
child’s current charges or probation requirements, and that participation required two things: (1) the
completion of a 15- to 20-min survey questionnaire and (2) for the research team member who
worked at the facility to access their child’s information from a JJS database in order to obtain
demographic data on their children and information on the number and type of charges their child
had accumulated.4
The research team member who works at the facility and invited parents to participate in the study
is only one of several staff members who regularly hold conferences with parents of juvenile
offenders placed on home detention or who processes juveniles out of the facility when parents
come to pick them up after an initial charge is made. As a result, the sample is one of convenience,
and invitations for parents to participate only took place as time allowed or when the research team
member was present at the facility at the time conferences took place or children were picked up.
With these caveats in mind, of the 174 parents who were invited to complete the survey and asked to
Meldrum et al. 3
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

4. consent to having the research team member access the official records of their children, 103
completed the survey and consented, producing a participation rate of 59%. An outlier analysis led
to the exclusion of 2 cases, making the analytic sample size of 101 cases. We recognize the small and
nonrepresentative nature of the sample limits the generalizability of findings stemming from the
analysis to be presented and comment on this issue in greater detail later in the article.
Measures
Parental low self-control. Each participating parent was asked to respond to 9 items from the Grasmick,
Tittle, Bursik, and Arneklev’s (1993) self-control scale about themselves. These items were: ‘‘I
sometimes act on the spur of the moment without stopping to think’’; ‘‘I sometimes do what brings
me pleasure here and now, even at the cost of some distant goal’’; ‘‘I am more concerned with what
happens to me in the short run than in the long run’’; ‘‘Sometimes I will take a risk just for the fun of
it’’; ‘‘I sometimes find it exciting to do things for which I might get in trouble’’; ‘‘Excitement and
adventure are more important to me than security’’; ‘‘I try to look out for myself first, even if it
means making things difficult for other people’’; ‘‘I am not very sympathetic to other people when
they are having problems’’; and ‘‘I will try to get things I want when I know it is causing problems
for other people.’’ For each of the items, responses ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly
agree (4). For the analysis, the items were averaged together, with higher values representing lower
parental self-control (a ¼ .92; average interitem r ¼ .55). The descriptive statistics for this measure
and all other measures to be described, along with their intercorrelations, are reported in Table 1.
Juvenile delinquency. To measure the extent of involvement in the JJS, official records were consulted
to ascertain the total number of felony and misdemeanor charges that each juvenile had accumulated
in his or her lifetime; we refer to this measure throughout the remainder of the article as an indicator
of juvenile delinquency. The research team member who accessed the JJS database in order to obtain
this information has knowledge of the types of adolescents who are processed through or visit the
facility and, important for the analysis, a variety of juveniles pass through the facility, from those
who have been brought in for first-time misdemeanor offenses (e.g., getting into a fight at school) to
those who have rather extensive histories of delinquency (i.e., repeat felony charges). As shown in
Table 1, there was good variability in the count of misdemeanor and felony charges, with a range
from 1 to 22 (mean ¼ 4.36, SD ¼ 3.92).
Parental exasperation. The measure for parental exasperation used for the current analysis was
adapted from Cook and Gordon (2012) and the Juvenile Offender Parent Questionnaire (JOPQ)
developed by Rose et al. (2004). For the current study, parents were asked to respond to 6 items:
‘‘My frustration with my child interferes with my relationship with him or her,’’ ‘‘I feel like giving
up on my child,’’ ‘‘When it comes to my child I feel hopeless,’’ ‘‘Sometimes I wonder if my child
should live somewhere else,’’ ‘‘I am angry with my child,’’ and ‘‘I get so frustrated with my child
that I cannot deal with him or her.’’ For each of the items, responses ranged from completely false (1)
to completely true (4). For the analysis, the items were averaged together, with higher scores
representing greater parental exasperation (a ¼ .92; average interitem r ¼ .67).
Demographic and control variables. Information on the age, race, and sex of each parent who partici-
pated was collected through the survey questionnaire. Age was self-reported in whole years. Over-
whelmingly, mothers are the ones who came to the facility to pick up their kids or attend conferences
(84%). We chose to exclude parental sex from the analyses, given that including it in the analyses
had no bearing on the results. Approximately 50% of the parents were African American, with less
than 10% indicating they were a member of another minority group. Thus, for the analysis, parental
4 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

5. race was dichotomized (White ¼ 0, non-White ¼ 1). Information on the age, race, and sex of the
juveniles was obtained from the same JJS database as the information on delinquency. Age was
computed to the hundredths of a year. Given the near perfect correlation between parental race and
child race (r ¼ .94), child race is not included in the analysis. The sex of each child was coded such
that females were assigned a value of 0, while males, who comprised the majority of the sample,
were assigned a value of 1.
In addition to the above demographic variables, we included two additional variables pertaining
to events that parents reported experiencing (or not) within the 12 months prior to completing the
survey questionnaire. First, each parent was asked whether they or their spouse had been fired or laid
off from a job (no ¼ 0, yes ¼ 1). Second, each parent was asked whether they had experienced
marital separation, divorce, or the breakup of a steady relationship (no ¼ 0, yes ¼ 1). Given that
losing a job or ending a romantic relationship can be stressful for anyone, it is possible that recent
events such as these could contribute to parental exasperation—stress in other domains of life could
contribute to feelings of frustration and anger with one’s child. As such, including these two
measures in the analyses can shed additional light on the causes of parental exasperation above and
beyond parental low self-control and juvenile delinquency.
Results
To investigate our first hypothesis concerning the potential influence of parental low self-control and
juvenile delinquency on parental exasperation, we employed ordinary least squares regression, given
that parental exasperation is measured as a continuous variable with little skew (0.53). Two models
are presented in Table 2. Model 1 examines the effect of juvenile delinquency on parental exaspera-
tion when controlling for the demographic and control variables. As shown in Model 1, juvenile
delinquency is positively associated with greater parental exasperation (b ¼ .52, p < .001). Parental
job loss (b ¼ .29, p < .001) and parental romantic relationship breakup (b ¼ .18, p < .05) are also
positively associated with parental exasperation. Model 2 adds the measure of parental low self-
control to assess the independent effect of parental low self-control on parental exasperation as well
as to determine the extent to which juvenile delinquency remains a significant predictor of parental
exasperation. Given the possibility that the association between juvenile delinquency and parental
exasperation could be spurious owing to parental low self-control, this second model is critical in
this regard.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Matrix.
Variable Mean SD Min Max 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Juvenile age 15.67 1.63 11.1 17.9
2 Juvenile sex (male ¼ 1) 0.78 — 0 1 À.05
3 Juvenile delinquency 4.35 3.92 1 22 .12 .05
4 Parent age 41.03 8.75 28 70 .24* À.10 À.11
5 Parent race
(non-White ¼ 1)
0.56 — 0 1 À.15 .12 .29** À.15
6 Parental job loss (yes ¼ 1) 0.25 — 0 1 .10 .08 .15 À.14 .04
7 Parental breakup (yes ¼ 1) 0.45 — 0 1 .08 À.01 .11 À.12 À.06 .22*
8 Parental low self-control 1.62 0.65 1.00 3.44 .14 À.01 .45*** À.34*** .10 .38*** .11
9 Parental exasperation 1.98 0.87 1.00 4.00 .23* .06 .55*** .03 .01 .40*** .30** .52***
Note. N ¼ 101.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001 (two-tailed).
Meldrum et al. 5
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

6. Impressively, Model 2 indicates that both juvenile delinquency (b ¼ .40, p < .001) and parental
low self-control (b ¼ .32, p <.001) are positively associated with greater parental exasperation. This
provides support for our first hypothesis and also establishes that the effect of juvenile delinquency
on parental exasperation is not spurious, at least with regard to the potential confounding influence
of parental low self-control. Parental job loss (b ¼ .20, p < .05) and parental romantic relationship
breakup (b ¼ .20, p < .01) also remain significant predictors of parental exasperation when con-
trolling for parental low self-control. It is also noteworthy that, while the model only considers the
influence of a handful of variables, 50% of the variability in parental exasperation is explained by
the model (adjusted R2
¼ .50).
To investigate our second hypothesis concerning the potential conditional effect of parental low
self-control on parental exasperation across levels of juvenile delinquency, we employed a split-
sample analysis. Specifically, the sample was split between those parents whose children had less
involvement in delinquency (three or fewer charges) and those parents whose children had greater
involvement in delinquency (four or more charges). This enabled us to consider, then, whether the
effect of parental low self-control on parental exasperation is stronger among parents whose children
have greater involvement in juvenile delinquency.5
As shown in Model 1 of Table 3, parental low
self-control is positively associated with parental exasperation, but the effect fails to reach statistical
significance (b ¼ .20, p ¼ .14). This indicates that at lower levels of delinquency involvement
among adolescents, parental low self-control is not associated with parental exasperation. However,
among parents whose children have more extensive involvement in delinquency, a different pattern
emerges. Specifically, Model 2 indicates a strong effect of parental low self-control on parental
exasperation (b ¼ .60, p < .001).
To consider whether the effect of parental low self-control on parental exasperation in Model 2 is
statistically larger than the effect found in Model 1, we used the Paternoster, Brame, Mazerolle, and
Piquero (1998) test to assess the equality of regression coefficients across samples. Using the
unstandardized coefficients for parental low self-control and their standard errors from Models 1
and 2 and inserting them into the equation from Paternoster et al. (1998), a z-score of À2.10 was
obtained. This indicates that the effect of parental low self-control on parental exasperation is
statistically stronger among parents whose children have greater involvement in delinquency at a
p value equal to .035 (two-tailed), providing support for our second hypothesis.6
Table 2. OLS Regressions: Effects of Juvenile Delinquency, Parental Low Self-Control, and Control Variables
on Parental Exasperation.
Model 1 Model 2
Predictors b SE B b SE B
Juvenile age .05 .04 .08 .02 .04 .04
Juvenile sex (male ¼ 1) .09 .16 .04 .14 .15 .07
Juvenile delinquency .12*** .02 .52 .09*** .02 .40
Parent age .01 .01 .11 .02** .01 .21
Parent race (non-White ¼ 1) À.20 .14 À.11 À.17 .13 À.10
Parental job loss .59*** .16 .29 .41* .16 .20
Parental relationship breakup .32* .14 .18 .35** .13 .20
Parental low self-control .43*** .12 .32
Adjusted R2
.44 .50
F-statistic 12.35*** 13.64***
Note. N ¼ 101. b ¼ unstandardized regression coefficient; SE ¼ standard error; B ¼ standardized regression coefficient;
OLS ¼ ordinary least squares.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001 (two-tailed).
6 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

7. Discussion
Parents whose children are involved in the JJS frequently report feelings of exasperation (Bradshaw
et al., 2006; Rose et al., 2004), but little is currently known about the sources of this sentiment. In
this study, we sought to investigate the extent to which parental low self-control and adolescent
involvement in officially recorded juvenile delinquency contribute to our understanding of the
sources of parental exasperation; recent events experienced by parents relating to work and romantic
relationships were also considered. In this final section, we highlight the main findings of our
analyses and discuss their implications for both theory and practice. We conclude by addressing
the limitations of the study and associated directions for future research.
There are two main findings stemming from our analysis. First, both parental low self-control and
juvenile delinquency, as measured by the number of accumulated misdemeanor and felony charges,
are positively associated with reports of parental exasperation. Indeed, the effect sizes were far from
trivial, with standardized effects exceeding 0.30. The finding that officially recorded juvenile
delinquency is associated with greater parental exasperation is consistent with prior work measuring
delinquency via parental reports (Bradshaw et al., 2006), but this is the first study to document an
effect of parental low self-control. In addition, we found evidence that recent parental job loss and
problems with romantic relationships are positively associated with parental exasperation. The
second main finding is that the effect of parental low self-control on parental exasperation is
conditioned by juvenile delinquency. Specifically, both the analysis discussed above and the sup-
plemental analysis commented on in an endnote support the conclusion that the effect of parental
low self-control on parental exasperation is stronger when adolescent involvement in delinquency is
more extensive. Thus, it would seem that more extensive involvement with the JJS evokes or brings
out the impulsive, shortsighted, and self-centered tendencies of parents who are low in self-control,
making them more likely to report they want to ‘‘throw in the towel’’ with regard to their child.
We see both theoretical and practical implications of these findings. From a theoretical stand-
point, the findings of the current study point to the broad influence of self-control that goes well
beyond involvement in antisocial behavior during adolescence and young adulthood, which has been
Table 3. Split Sample OLS Regressions: Effect of Parental Low Self-Control on Parental Exasperation Across
Juvenile Delinquency.
Model 1: Low Delinquency (one to
three charges; n ¼ 56)
Model 2: High Delinquency (four
plus charges; n ¼ 45)
Predictors b SE B b SE B
Juvenile age .08 .05 .21 À.10 .08 À.15
Juvenile sex (male ¼ 1) .04 .19 .03 .51y
.28 .22
Parent age .01 .01 .16 .04** .01 .34
Parent race (non-White ¼1) À.23 .17 À.17 .11 .23 .06
Parental job loss .38y
.21 .23 .29 .26 .14
Parental relationship breakup .28 .17 .21 .40 .25 .21
Parental low self-control .26 .17 .20 .77*** .17 .60
Adjusted R2
.25 .47
F-statistic 3.63** 6.60***
Paternoster, Brame, Mazerolle, and Piquero (1998) Z-test for equality of
effect of parental low self-control across Model 1 and Model 2:
Z ¼ À2.10*
Note. b ¼ unstandardized regression coefficient; SE ¼ standard error; B ¼ standardized regression coefficient; OLS ¼
ordinary least squares.
y
p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001 (two-tailed).
Meldrum et al. 7
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

8. the major focus of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) self-control theory. Further, our findings
reinforce something increasingly being recognized in the criminological literature (e.g., Boutwell
& Beaver, 2010; Meldrum, Connolly et al., 2015)—the role parental self-control plays in family
functioning needs to be taken into consideration in order to more fully understand the etiology and
continuation of juvenile offending. An implication of this, then, is the need to investigate whether
self-control continues to be malleable during adulthood, something which few studies have thus far
addressed (but see Burt, Sweeten, & Simons, 2014; Forrest & Hay, 2011). If self-control is malleable
during adulthood, which research indicates, then the possibility exists that the self-control of parents
whose children are involved in the JJS can be improved through programming—something we
address below. This, in turn, could hold significant implications for reducing parental exasperation.
While assessing the extent to which parental low self-control is associated with greater parental
exasperation is itself informative, it becomes more relevant for juvenile justice practitioners if
parental exasperation influences the likelihood that juvenile offenders will successfully meet the
terms of their probation and/or refrain from future offending. Exasperated parents may be less
willing to ensure their child meets the conditions of their probation and instead may prefer that the
state becomes the de facto parent. Thus, it is possible that parental exasperation may contribute to
the continuation of delinquency. In this regard, there is little research that has directly examined
this issue, and the research that has been done offers conflicting evidence. As noted at the outset of
this study, while Glaser and colleagues (2005) found evidence suggesting that parental exaspera-
tion is associated with a greater likelihood of juvenile reoffending, Cook and Gordon (2012) failed
to find any significant effect of parental exasperation on future technical violations or new
charges. Given that each of these studies focused on small samples (less than 90 juveniles in each
study), there is a clear need for further research assessing the influence of parental exasperation on
future juvenile behavior.
At a broader level, the findings of this study reinforce the idea that successful completion of the
requirements of juvenile probation and the reduction in juvenile reoffending require an approach
that considers the attitudes and behaviors of both juvenile offenders and their parents (Bradshaw
et al., 2006; Glaser et al., 2005). As Cook and Gordon (2012, p. 210) have noted, ‘‘ . . . success on
probation is contingent on parental compliance with the rules and regulations of probation; this
avenue is worthy of study given the parent’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all aspects of
probation.’’ Thus, programming should be directed at parents of juvenile offenders with the aim of
improving parental self-control and reducing feelings of exasperation in addition to trying to modify
the behavior and attitudes of juvenile offenders themselves. Programs such as Triple P—the Positive
Parenting Program—which focus on improving parental self-control, child behavior, and family
functioning, have repeatedly demonstrated positive results (Sanders, Kirby, Tellegen, & Day, 2014).
As such, it would be worthwhile to consider adapting programs like Triple P to families with
juvenile offenders on probation and to assess whether such programmatic efforts can decrease
parental exasperation while also improving parental self-control.
With these thoughts in mind, it is important to discuss the limitations of our study, each of which
direct attention to avenues for future research. First, this study was correlational, meaning no solid
claims can be made with regard to causation. Even though strong associations were observed
between parental low self-control, juvenile delinquency, and parental exasperation, the possibility
exists that unmeasured confounding influences, such as genetic predispositions, could account for
the findings (Barnes, Boutwell, Beaver, Gibson, & Wright, 2014). Second, even though the variables
considered in our main analysis accounted for 50% of the variation in parental exasperation, there
are other potential factors, stemming from both parents and juveniles, which future research should
explore, including substance use, mental health problems, violence directed at parents on the part of
the child, and school failure. Third, we have argued that, when assessed contemporaneously, the
direction of influence would flow from parental low self-control and juvenile delinquency to
8 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

9. parental exasperation, but we cannot dismiss the possibility of reciprocal effects, which necessarily
require longitudinal data. Thus, it will be critical for future research to examine this issue.
Fourth, the sample for the current study was relatively small and based on the collection of data in
a single location using a convenience sampling strategy. As such, it is possible that different results
could emerge with larger, more representative samples or with participants drawn from different
settings, especially with regard to the finding concerning the moderating effect of juvenile delin-
quency on the parental low self-control–parental exasperation relationship. Because of the small
sample size, standard errors were relatively large, limiting our ability to execute a more fine-grained
analysis of moderating effects. Future research based on a larger sample would further inform our
understanding of the conditional nature of the association between parental low self-control and
parental exasperation across levels of juvenile offending. We should note, however, that prior research
on parental exasperation has been based on similarly small samples (Cook & Gordon, 2012; Glaser
et al., 2005), and so the limitation of the current study with regard to sample size is one shared by other
studies in this area of research. Fifth, the items used to measure parental exasperation were drawn
from a larger inventory—the JOPQ (Rose et al., 2004). Due to a number of constraints surrounding
time and an inability to offer monetary incentives to study participants, we were unable to assess other
parenting attitudes and beliefs that are part of the JOPQ, including parental shame, parental mistrust
of the justice system, and fear of the child. Thus, it would be instructive if future research examined,
for example, whether parental low self-control is predictive of things like parental shame.
In addition, we see other avenues for future research. For example, we are unaware of any studies
that have sought to assess parental exasperation in the broader population; each of the studies thus
far conducted measuring parental exasperation have been based on families whose children are
involved in the JJS. It would therefore be informative to assess whether parental exasperation is
higher among parents who have children involved in the justice system relative to parents whose
children are not involved in officially recorded delinquency. Likewise, future research could exam-
ine whether self-reported juvenile delinquency is associated with parental exasperation, as this study
was based on officially recorded delinquency. To the extent that juveniles are able to evade detection
for their delinquent behavior, thus avoiding involvement with the JJS, self-reported delinquency
might be more weakly associated with parental exasperation when compared to officially recorded
delinquency. Between avenues for research such as this and those discussed above with regard to
improving upon the current study, we believe there is much promise for this area of research and the
contribution such research can make for addressing family functioning and reducing the likelihood
of continued involvement with the JJS among at-risk adolescents.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or pub-
lication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Notes
1. There is a rich literature examining whether parenting practices are consequential for child self-control (see
Botchkovar, Marshall, Rocque, & Posick, 2015), but our focus here is on the self-control of parents. As such,
we do not review the literature examining the association between parenting practices and child self-control.
2. Bradshaw and colleagues (2006) found evidence of this association when measuring adolescent violence and
delinquency using parent reports, but without necessarily claiming a particular causal order. Here, we contend
that the direction of influence flows from the extent of adolescent involvement in the juvenile justice system to
parental feelings of exasperation when the two variables are assessed contemporaneously. The argument is that
Meldrum et al. 9
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

10. parental reports of exasperation reflect how parents feel at that moment, whereas a measure of adolescent
involvement in the juvenile justice system reflects an accumulation of past arrests, charges, and convictions.
We address this issue further in the discussion section after presenting the results of our analyses.
3. The parents who were invited were not necessarily parents whose children were under the direct supervision
of the research team member; some of the participating parents had children who were under the supervision
of other probation officers at the facility. Simply put, whenever the research team member was at the facility,
and as time allowed, parents who were at the facility to pick up their children after processing, or who were
there for a regularly scheduled conference with their child’s probation officer, were invited to participate.
4. The research team member had regular access to this information given his position at the facility, and the
administrators (and the parents) authorized allowing this individual to access the juvenile justice system
(JJS) database to obtain the demographic information on the juveniles and information on the number of
misdemeanor and felony charges for each juvenile in order to conduct the study. After accessing the JJS
database, this information was added to the data file containing the survey data collected from the parents. At
this point, no unique identifiers (the juvenile’s name, JJS number, address, etc.) were included in the data file
in order to protect the identity of participants.
5. The decision was made to split the sample at ‘‘three or fewer charges’’ and ‘‘four or more charges’’ because
this produced the closest even split with regard to sample size.
6. Wealsoconducteda split sampleanalysisat‘‘fourorfewer charges’’ and ‘‘five or morecharges.’’ Thisproduced
an unbalanced sample size for Model 1 of n ¼ 67 and a sample size for Model 2 of n ¼ 34. The unstandardized
effect of parental low self-control on parental exasperation for Model 1 was 0.346 ( p < .05), with an standard
error [SE] of .153. The unstandardized effect for Model 2 was 0.819 ( p < .001) with a SE of .219. Using the
Paternoster et al. (1998) equation, a z-value of À1.77 was obtained, producing a p value of .038 (one-tailed).
Thus, this supplementary analysis tends to support the conclusion that the effect of parental low self-control on
parental exasperation is stronger among parents whose children have a more extensive record of delinquency.
References
Barnes, J. C., Boutwell, B. B., Beaver, K. M., Gibson, C. L., & Wright, J. P. (2014). On the consequences of
ignoring genetic influences in criminological research. Journal of Criminal Justice, 42, 471–482.
Botchkovar, E., Marshall, I. H., Rocque, M., & Posick, C. (2015). The importance of parenting in the devel-
opment of self-control in boys and girls: Results from a multinational study of youth. Journal of Criminal
Justice, 43, 133–141.
Boutwell, B. B., & Beaver, K. M. (2010). The intergenerational transmission of low self-control. Journal of
Research in Crime and Delinquency, 47, 174–209.
Bradshaw, C. P., Glaser, B. A., Calhoun, G. B., & Bates, J. M. (2006). Beliefs and practices of the parents of
violent and oppositional adolescents: An ecological perspective. Journal of Primary Prevention, 27,245–263.
Burt, C. H., Sweeten, G., & Simons, R. L. (2014). Self-control through emerging adulthood: Instability,
multidimensionality, and criminological significance. Criminology, 52, 450–487.
Cook, A. K., & Gordon, J. A. (2012). Get him out of my house: Parental competencies of juvenile probationers.
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 10, 205–223.
Forrest, W., & Hay, C. (2011). Life-course transitions, self-control and desistance from crime. Criminology and
Criminal Justice, 11, 487–513.
Glaser, B. A., Calhoun, G. B., & Puder, R. J. (2005). Using the juvenile offender parent questionnaire (JOPQ) as
a risk and needs assessment: A prospective study. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 3, 253–264.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Grasmick, H. G., Tittle, C., Bursik, R. J., & Arneklev, B. J. (1993). Testing the core empirical implications of
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 5–29.
Hay, C., & Meldrum, R. C. (2015). Self-control and crime over the life course. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Henschel, S., de Bruin, M., & Mo¨hler, E. (2014). Self-control and child abuse potential in mothers with an abuse
history and their preschool children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23, 824–836.
10 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from

11. Meldrum, R. C., Connolly, G. M., Flexon, J., & Guerette, R. T. (2015). Parental low self-control, family
environments, and juvenile delinquency. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative
Criminology, 0306624X15584907.
Meldrum, R. C., Young, J. T., & Lehmann, P. S. (2015). Parental low self-control, parental socialization, young
adult low self-control, and offending: A retrospective study. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42, 1183–1199.
Miller, H. V., Barnes, J. C., & Beaver, K. M. (2011). Self-control and health outcomes in a nationally
representative sample. American Journal of Health Behavior, 35(1), 15–27.
Moffitt, T. E., Arseneault, L., Belsky, D., Dickson, N., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H., . . . Sears, M. R. (2011). A
gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 108, 2693–2698.
Nofziger, S. (2008). The ‘‘cause’’ of low self-control: The influence of maternal self-control. Journal of
Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45, 191–224.
Paternoster, R., Brame, R., Mazerolle, P., & Piquero, A. (1998). Using the correct statistical test for the equality
of regression coefficients. Criminology, 36, 859.
Pratt, T. C., Turanovic, J. J., Fox, K. A., & Wright, K. A. (2014). Self-control and victimization: A meta-
analysis. Criminology, 52, 87–116.
Rose, C. C., Glaser, B. A., Calhoun, G. B., & Bates, J. M. (2004). Assessing the parents of juvenile offenders: A
preliminary validation study of the juvenile offender parent questionnaire. Child & Family Behavior
Therapy, 26, 25–43.
Sanders, M. R., Kirby, J. N., Tellegen, C. L., & Day, J. J. (2014). The triple p-positive parenting program: A
systematic review and meta-analysis of a multi-level system of parenting support. Clinical Psychology
Review, 34, 337–357.
Verhoeven, M., Junger, M., Van Aken, C., Dekovic´, M., & Van Aken, M. A. (2007). Parenting during tod-
dlerhood: Contributions of parental, contextual, and child characteristics. Journal of Family Issues, 12,
1663–1691.
Vohs, K. D., Finkenauer, C., & Baumeister, R. F. (2011). The sum of friends’ and lovers’ self-control scores
predicts relationship quality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 138–145.
Author Biographies
Ryan C. Meldrum is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Florida
International University in Miami, FL. His research focuses on tests of criminological theory, with
a particular emphasis on the interrelationships between self-control, peers, and involvement in
delinquency. He is coauthor of the recent book Self-Control and Crime Over the Life Course, and
winner of the 2016 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences New Scholar Award. His research has
appeared in journals including Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Crime and
Delinquency, Criminal Justice and Behavior, and the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
Teresa M. Encalada is a guardian ad litem for the State of Florida and a PhD student in the
Department of Criminal Justice at Florida International University in Miami, FL. She received her
MS in Criminal Justice from Florida International University in 2015. Her research interests include
juvenile delinquency, theories of rehabilitation, recidivism, and prevention.
George M. Connolly is a juvenile probation officer supervisor for the Florida Department of
Juvenile Justice. He received his MS in Criminal Justice from Florida International University in
2014. His research interests include juvenile delinquency, peer influence, family factors, self-
control, prevention, and intervention. His recent work has appeared in the International Journal
of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.
Meldrum et al. 11
at FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIV on February 26, 2016yvj.sagepub.comDownloaded from