Family Coresidence, Parent–Child Interaction, and Deviant Behavior Among Rural Chinese Adolescents

Family coresidence can structure adolescents’ access to parental guidance, but evidence often separates living arrangements from parenting processes. We analyzed 3612 rural-hukou adolescents from 110 schools in the China Education Panel Survey. Deviant behavior was measured as a five-item summed score (5–25). Primary ordinary least squares models used the untransformed score, school-clustered inference, and a core set of stable or plausibly pre-exposure covariates; expanded-control, log-outcome, multiple-imputation, item-level, and instrumental-variable models served as sensitivity analyses. Exploratory coefficient-product models assessed parental supervision and parent–child communication as parallel indirect associations. In the primary binary model, not living with both parents was associated with a 0.312-point higher score (95% CI [0.114, 0.510]). In the four-category model, the clearest multiplicity-adjusted association concerned adolescents living with neither parent (b = 0.388, 95% CI [0.148, 0.628]); estimates for the two one-parent groups were less precise. Multiple imputation supported the binary and neither-parent patterns. School-level instrumental-variable estimates were positive but imprecise and were interpreted as triangulation rather than causal identification. Lower supervision and less frequent communication formed statistically detectable indirect associations, although the cross-sectional design does not establish temporal mediation. Item-level analyses indicated that the composite association was not uniform across behaviors. The findings support a structural–process account while defining clear limits on causal and measurement interpretation.