The current longitudinal study examined the protective effects of parenting processes on measures of adolescent adjustment (health-compromising and violent behaviors) in a sample of high-risk, inner-city, poor African American youth N = 2,867). Parenting processes played an important role in this dangerous developmental milieu. For male adolescents, they accounted for 26 to 37% in health-compromising behaviors and 16 to 24% of the total variance in violent behaviors over time. Multigroup SEM analyses by sex and age groups (early, middle, and late adolescents) indicated no differences of these effects across groups. Findings provided evidence that parenting processes are salient for a high-risk, inner-city minority population in understanding and predicting health-compromising and violent behaviors. (Contains 5 tables and 5 figures.)