Parental Monitoring and Youth Violence Perpetration: A Comparative Study of the US and South Korea

Background and Purpose: Violence perpetration, defined as intentionally aggressive or harmful behavior to others (Reiss & Roth, 1993), has been broadly recognized as a serious social problem among adolescents. Prior research shows that parental monitoring reduces youth violence perpetration (Stattin& Kerr, 2000). However, examinations in this area have primarily focused on youth in North America, Europe, and Australia. Little study has been done cross-nationally, particularly between US and South Korean youth. Informed by Hirschi’s (1969) Social Control Theory (SCT), we compared the direct effect of parental monitoring on youth violence perpetration (YVP) between 10th grade youth in the US and South Korea. The mediating role of youth cigarette use, alcohol use, and self-esteem on the relationship of parental monitoring on YVP was also compared.

Methods: This research utilized data from two national studies–Monitoring the Future (MTF) study for American youth and the Korea Youth Panel Study (KYPS) for Korean youth. Data came from Form 2 of the MTF and the third wave of the KYPS, with both sets collected in 2005. Both studies incorporated school-based, multi-stage, stratified, and randomized clustered sampling methods. Our sample included 3,784 American youth (52.8% females) and 3,079 Korean youth (49.7% females) in the 10th grade. We conducted the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to evaluate model fit. Path analyses with structure equation modeling (SEM) were also used to test models.

Results: Findings indicated that, the full model for both the MTF and KYPS data met target criteria for acceptable model fit (CFI = .934 and .987, TLI = .904 and 958, RMSEA = .076 and .034, and SRMR = .042 and .017, respectively). Furthermore, while parental monitoring had a significant direct effect on YVP for US youth (β = -.04, p < .05), it had no direct effect on YVP for South Korean youth (β = .01, p > .05). Finally, we found significant indirect effects of parental monitoring on YVP through cigarette use, alcohol use, and self-esteem for both groups (β = -.02, -.01, and -.02, respectively, p < .001 for US youth; β = -.03, -.01, and -.01, respectively, p < .001 for South Korean youth). Both US and South Korean youth who perceived increased monitoring from their parents reported less cigarette and alcohol use and higher self-esteem, which in turn, were negatively associated with YVP.

Conclusions and Implications: This study serves as an example of conducting cross-national research using existing data to investigate important issues related to youth well-being. The results increase our understanding of cultural similarities and differences between US and South Korean youth with regard to parental roles in YVP. As such, even though there are cultural differences between US and South Korean youth, parental monitoring is still important in deterring both groups of youth from engaging in violent behaviors. This knowledge can be used by social workers to craft culturally sensitive youth violence prevention and intervention programs.