Family transitions, changes in the family structure that may include gaining or losing a parent, have a serious impact upon children and may correlate with conduct problems. Conduct problems are often precursors to lifelong social problems, including juvenile delinquency, failure to succeed academically, and subsequent employment and career difficulties. The current study used a quantitative approach to investigate whether family transitions were related to the conduct problems, academic competency, and self-esteem of African American third grade males. Boys ages 8–10 were divided into two groups: a group whose families underwent a transition within the past 3 years and another group whose families had not undergone such a transition. A two-tailed t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to detect the amount of shared variance and strength of the relationship between the variables of interest. The two groups of boys were compared in relation to conduct problems and academic performance as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist-6/18 , and on self-esteem as measured by the Self-esteem Index . A background questionnaire was also administered to evaluate interactions with sociodemographic variables. The study did not find statistically significant relationships between transition (whether or not the boys were in transition) and student's conduct, self-esteem, or academic performance. Thus, for this study, transitions in the families of young African American boys do not seem to be related to precursors to delinquency such as conduct problems, low self-esteem, and poor academic achievement. Future research could include conducting the study on African American families to determine if the amount of intergenerational support makes a difference in the relationships between the three variables. Furthermore, a study could also be conducted to determine if conflict in families has an impact on the relationship between the variables.