Relationships Between Perceived Parental Acceptance -Rejection and Juvenile Delinquency Scores: A Study of Criminal and Non-Criminal Adolescents

The study was designed to examine relationships between perceived parental acceptance-rejection and juvenile delinquency scores of criminal and non-criminal adolescents. Abbreviated Maternal and Paternal Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ, Ahmed & Gielen, 1987) and Juvenile Delinquency Inventory (JDI, Khan, Khan, & Hussain, 1982) were administered on Sindhi and Urdu-speaking criminals and non-criminals. The results found total juvenile delinquency scores to be positively associated with the total perceived parental acceptance-rejection scores. The mean differen­ces indicated that the criminal adolescents perceived both their fathers and mothers to be significantly more aggressive, more neglecting, more rejecting as compared to the non-criminal adolescents. The findings of this research are consistent with universalistic postulates of parental acceptance and rejection theory developed by Raimer (1975).