Bad parenting and juvenile delinquency
The family unit plays a core role in the molding of a child’s behavior. The involvement of a parent during a child’s growth and development is essential as it shapes up children’s behavior. Children who grow up with parents who are not involved in their lives are likely to adopt bad behavior. Research shows that children who face abuse during childhood are more likely to abuse others or to always expect abuse from others.
Children raised by a single parent face a higher chance of adapting bad behaviors as compared to those raised by two parents. In a marriage where one parent is not the biological father or mother, children are more likely to face abuse. The parent’s style of parenting determines how a child responds. Authoritative style decreases juvenile delinquency. Indulgent parenting spoils the child as it causes bad behavior and selfishness.
Neglectful parenting causes low self-esteem and bad behavior leading to juvenile delinquency during adolescence. There are four categories of juvenile delinquency; non-delinquent, moderate desisting, minor persisting and serious desisting. Non-delinquent is a child who commits a crime for the first time and appears in court for minor offenses such as petty theft. Serious desisting is a situation where the child commits a major offense such as rape, murder, robbery with violence or carjacking.
Hostility, lack of psychological control and negative peers are likely to cause juvenile delinquency. Also, low intelligence, rejection, proximity to violence and certain genetic factors can cause juvenile delinquency. Engagement in a child’s life helps a parent notice unpleasant behaviors at an early stage before they develop, and rectify them.
Apart from lack of involvement in a child’s life, abuse of drugs in a family, divorce and dangerous neighborhoods can also lead to delinquency. Involvement in a child’s life and not demanding anything from the kid can cause egocentrism. Authoritative and indulgent parenting styles are harmful to the child’s behavior but do not correlate in any way with delinquency. Children who don’t connect with their parents are likely to seek support from other sources such as social media, negative peer pressure and delinquent siblings.
Bad parenting is closely interlinked with delinquency. Neglectful parenting leads to conduct disorder among children during adolescence. Peer pressure, drug abuse and delinquent siblings also promote bad behavior. Full involvement in a child’s life boosts their confidence and self-esteem leading to children adapting acceptable behavior.
References
Holt, Amanda. “Room for resistance? Parenting Orders, disciplinary power and the production of the ‘bad parent’.” ASBO nation: The criminalization of nuisance (2008): 203-222.
Hoffmann, John P. “Parenting and delinquency.” The handbook of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice (2015): 161-180.
Hoeve, Machteld, et al. “The relationship between parenting and delinquency: A meta-analysis.” Journal of abnormal child psychology 37.6 (2009): 749-775.

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