ABSTRACT

In this chapter, we study how cohesion and conflict function as predictors of boys’ wandering. Cohesion and conflict have enjoyed popular usage in the family literature as measures of emotional contexts that are related to family functioning and children’s adjustment. In our model, cohesion and conflict are hypothesized to influence youngsters’ cooperation with parenting processes, which results in changing levels of wandering (Stoolmiller, 1994). Wandering is an intermediary child outcome that straddles parental super­ vision and more serious adjustment outcomes that develop over time, such as increases in antisocial behavior or delinquency. We assume that cohesion serves as a kind of emotional adherent that enhances youngsters’ cooperation with supervision and prevents undue wandering, whereas conflict intensifies resistance to supervision and leads to increased wandering.