Families, peers, and contexts as multiple determinants of adolescent problem behavior

Most human behaviors are multiply determined, and adolescent problem behavior is no exception. The complexity of possible influences is obvious. To take a few of many possible examples, peers, in school or during leisure time, might draw youths into problem behavior; good or bad relationships with parents might make negative peer influences more or less likely; parents’ rearing practices could prevent or fail to prevent problems, through a number of different means; and youths with difficult temperaments might be channeled into problem behavior because of school failure or parents’ failures to teach good social skills. These examples make it obvious that these influences can work together.