Responses to the Delinquency Questionnaire (Table 7.3) indicated that 90 % of the sample (N = 133) reported having no record of ever being arrested by the police, while 10 % report having been arrested by the police at least one time as adolescents. Of the 15 subjects who had been arrested, 13 were males and 2 were females.

Responses to the Social Responsibility Scale (Table 7.4) assessed subjects’ civic responsibility by eliciting their reactions to a set of questions that pertained to their antisocial behaviors. Responses to “it is hard to get ahead without breaking the law every now and then” indicated that 41.2 % strongly agreed or agreed to this statement. Another statement, “if I want to risk getting into trouble, that is my business,” showed that 41.2 % of the subjects, again, responded that they either strongly agreed or agreed with this statement.

The scores for the adolescent responses to self-perceptions of their relations with their parents (Mother, N = 148; Father, N = 138) were, not surprisingly, similar on some measures and different on others. Mothers tended to receive a higher score than did fathers. The majority of the respondents completed the IPPA questionnaire for both mother and father, with only about 10 % of such respondents not completing the father portion of the IPPA questionnaire.

Responses to “my mother/father respects my feelings” showed that most of the subjects perceived that it was almost always or often true that their mother and father respected their feelings, “accepted them as they are,” and that their “parent trusted their judgment.” On the other hand, a substantial percent of respondents perceived that their mother and father “expected too much from them” and responded that this was almost always or often true (57 % and 56 %, respectively). Eighty-one percent of respondents perceived that their mother “does a good job,” and 50.3 % felt that their father was “doing a good job.” When asked if they felt they do not get enough attention from their mother and father, 61.1 % responded that this was not very often or almost never true for mothers and 51.4 % for fathers. Approximately 62.7 % of respondents felt that they were angry with their mother, while for fathers, 53 % responded that they “felt angry with their father.” Interestingly, 19.5 and 19.8 % of respondents indicated that they “wish they had a different mother and a different father.”

Gender and ethnic differences: Mean scores were calculated for parent attachment, gender and education, ethnicity and parent attachment (mother and father), ethnicity and attitude toward school, social responsibility, and future aspirations.

The mean scores for parent attachment for mother and father were close, with a mean of 3.71 for mother (N = 148) and 3.33 for father (N = 136). Across ethnic groups, there was wide variation among the various groups and maternal and paternal attachment. For paternal attachment, Ghanaians reported higher mean scores on paternal attachment (3.76) than African-American (3.18) or Caribbean Americans (2.80). The higher the score, the stronger the adolescent’s perception of their relation with their mother and/or father on key indicators.

The mean scores for gender and ethnicity of participants and their attitude toward school were similar, and means ranged from 2.80 to 2.92.

Correlational analyses were performed on all of the IPPA attachment questions (Table 7.5), with the variables of attitude toward school (“homework is a waste of time,” “I try hard in school,” and “in general, I like school”), delinquency (ever arrested by the police, number of times ever arrested by the police, have they been involved with the juvenile court, and/or the adult court), and social responsibility (“if I want to risk getting into trouble with the law that is my business” and total score for social responsibility).

Results showed an association between the respondents’ self-perceptions of their relationship with their parents and their attitudes toward school (“homework is a waste of time,” “I try hard in school,” and “in general, I like school”) (Table 7.5). Respondents’ self-perceptions that their mother and father trusted them showed a significant association with the three variables of attitude toward school. Similarly, variables such as “communication with mother and father,” “trust father,” and “feeling alienated from father” were all significantly associated with delinquency (number of times arrested, involved juvenile court and/or adult court) (Table 7.6). Respondents whose IPPA scores were lower showed an inverse association with delinquency. One item from the Social Responsibility Instrument (Table 7.6), “if I want to risk getting into trouble with the law, that is my business,” was treated as the respondent’s perception of delinquency. Results showed significant associations with this item and IPPA variables such as “I trust mother or father,” “I feel alienated from mother or father,” and “total attachment score” (see Table 7.7).