This study examined aspects of the family experience of 194 males at 10 years of age as predictors of police arrest by 17 years of age. Effects for quality of parent-child relations, parental discipline practices, family structure, an family problem solving on arrest were found, with intelligence, socioeconomic status, and peer relations as controls. Experience in step families or single-parent families more than doubled the risks of delinquency that began by 14 years of age, but did not increase the risk for delinquency that began between 14 and 17 years of age. The elevated risks associated with poor peer relations and antisocial characteristics were constant across the family structures. Effects of family problem solving were found one in stepfamilies and single-parent families. The results clarified the timing and indirect nature of family effects on the development of delinquency.