The study was focused on parental acceptance/rejection experienced during childhood, as well as its influence on the later delinquent behaviour. We tried to answer which particular instances of parental behaviour differentiate juvenile delinquents from lawabiding adolescents. The starting point for this research was Rohner Parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory). We aimed to test the hypothesis that perceived rejection has a strong impact on the development of an aberrant behaviour in children. The research was carried out on a sample of 265 adolescents composing 2 independent groups: one consisted of 115 under-age delinquents (experimental), and the other included 150 lawabiding adolescents (control). Basing on the results of examination of the parental behaviour, we found that these two groups had more differences than similarities. Father’s neglect was proved to be the major difference beetween the groups. Besides that, significant differentiating factors were: manipulativity (verbal aggression) and physical abuse of the children (both parents).