The Effects of Surrogate Caregivers on The Relationship Between Fatherless/Fatherloss African American Male Youths and Their Level of Delinquent Behavior

摘要

This study hypothesized that fathers and surrogates (male role models) contributea unique set of factors that help guide African American male youths (N=496) duringtheir normal developmental stages. This study hypothesized that surrogate caregiverswould have an impact on the overall level of delinquent behavior of this population. Apath analysis tested direct and mediated effects of exposure to violence on delinquentbehavior, with anger/aggression level as a potential mediator for all three levels ofcaregiver presence or absence as a moderator.In the analysis of archival data from 496 African American male youths, thefindings did not support these hypotheses consistently. Exposure to family violence as amediator consistently predicted level of anger, and level of anger negatively predicteddelinquent behavior for the fatherless sample. However, exposure did not have a direct positive effect on delinquent behavior in any of the three samples. Implications of thesefindings as well as other unpredicted findings with these three groups are explored.