Parental Risk Indicators and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior in Montenegro: A Disaggregated Analysis of Caregiving Disruptions and Behavioral Outcomes

Abstract Adolescent externalizing behavior develops within interacting family, school, and social contexts. This cross-sectional study examines associations between perceived parental risk indicators and disaggregated externalizing behaviors among 84 ninth-grade students in Montenegro (59 boys, 25 girls; mean age = 13.8 years). Moving beyond monolithic indices of family adversity, the research separates parental behavioral frequency from caregiving disruption (perceived alcohol-related neglect) and evaluates specific family indicators (parental gambling treatment, criminal history) across two distinct behavioral outcomes: undesirable/rule-breaking behavior and violent behavior toward close persons. Spearman rank-order correlations, multiple linear regression analyses, and independent-samples t-tests were conducted. Results demonstrate that undesirable/rule-breaking behavior is positively associated with alcohol-related neglect (rho = .26, p < .05), parental gambling treatment (rho = .27, p < .05), and parental criminal history (rho = .29, p < .01). In the multivariable model, alcohol-related neglect (beta = .269, p = .020) and parental gambling treatment (beta = .285, p = .015) emerged as robust positive predictors. Alcohol-related neglect was also positively associated with violent behavior toward close persons in bivariate analysis (rho = .29, p < .01), showing a positive adjusted coefficient in the multivariable model (beta = .226, p = .059). No statistically significant gender differences were detected. The theoretical and empirical contributions highlight the necessity of disaggregating family risk indicators and recognizing outcome-specific behavioral signatures rather than treating family adversity or adolescent misconduct as uniform categories. Keywords: adolescent externalizing behavior; parental risk indicators; alcohol-related neglect; problem gambling; Montenegro; sociological risk