Parental neglect, defined as ‘the harming of a child through lack of care or supervision’ (Burgess & Conger, 1978), has been most commonly observed as a risk factor (Bassarath, 2001). It is hypothesized to manifest a lack of parental control over a child’s exposure to social risk factors outside of the home, such as deviant peers (Scaramella et al. 2002). Among juvenile delinquents, males and females were found to be equally as likely to be exposed to emotional neglect, although females were more likely to have experienced physical neglect than boys (McCabe et al. 2002).
