Family-Related Variables and School Disciplinary Events at the Secondary Level

This study explored predictors of school disciplinary events on a sample of 249 first-year high school students using two instruments developed by Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, and Darling (1992) and Epstein, Connors, and Salinas (1993), respectively. Logistic regression analyses revealed two parental involvement factors positively associated with school disciplinary events. One parenting style factor showed a negative relationship with school disciplinary events. It appears that parent-adolescent interactions based on daily school matters occurred in response to inappropriate behaviors. Parent-teacher communications were related to students' behavior problems. Adolescents whose parents provided supervision were less likely to have received disciplinary action. Implications for future research in terms of primary prevention of behavior problems are discussed.