As research studies and social theories show, there is a great correlation between family life, the environment and the causes of various types and degrees of antisocial and deviant behavior, especially among adolescents. In this paper, I will discuss the effect of family life, particularly the effects of stress within the family on formation of these forms of behaviors, which have become increasingly relevant to the study of antisocial behavior.
The purpose of this report is to bring into light one of the most argued social issues; that is, the effects of family life and stress on delinquency among adolescent in today’s societies. Firstly, the study will focus on what causes delinquency in children and adolescents in relation to families and parenting, beginning with an external factor that may influence children.
The method of research I will primarily use will be observational investigations of adolescents with one parent and adolescents with two parents.
I will also use many of my own experiences and knowledge to compose several ideas as relates to this critical topic. On the other hand, through seeking support from research findings and external scholarly sources, I will discuss the general effects of parental upbringing practices on growth patterns of children, regardless of whether these children will involve themselves in deviant behaviors of not.
Adolescence one of the important phases of human development, because as research studies show, majority of the experiences that children undergo during adolescence greatly influence their later life, as children’s levels of interaction with parents and peers increase during stage.
Although adolescents value very much their peers, the family is their central unit of support financially, emotionally, and socially hence, the effects of familial practices on adolescents’ behaviors (Berber, 1992, pp. 69-70). Parental supportive behaviors play a crucial role in determining how children will socialize themselves into the world, as most children will tend to copy their parents behaviors.
In addition to coping, depending on the level of support and attention children receive from their parents, in terms of meeting their needs, most children who lack the required support tend to seek other ways of satisfying their needs. Hence, unless such children receive the required parental or guardian guidance, likelihoods of such children engaging themselves in antisocial behaviors are high.
Different parents express their control over children in various ways, for example, some parents believe in dialogue as a mechanism of solving their children’s problems. Such a case is contrary in parents who believe in use of coercion as a control methodology. In addition, some parents may employ inductive mechanisms when it comes to controlling their children (Steinberg & Chung, 2006, pp. 320-326).
It is important to note that, rapid development is one primary characteristic of the puberty stage; hence, children at this stage require a lot of parental support, for them to be able to accommodate and accept all that takes place in their bodies. Further, during this stage children have increased curiosity to discover new ideas hence, the tendency of most of them to experiment without considering the nature of outcomes from their actions.
Therefore, any inadequacies in the parental guidance and control methodologies greatly affect the process of children’s behavior development. For example, as research studies show, in most cases parental interference may destabilize an adolescent’s psychological well-being and in extreme cases, most adolescents will feel insecure in the presence of their caregivers.
Therefore, in the endeavor to avoid such intrusions and increase their independence, most adolescents tend develop withdrawal behaviors that later result in antisocial behaviors. Psychological over-control greatly impairs the development of children’s self-worth. This like a case is common in most parent-disturbed families, as most of such parents tend to use coercion as a mechanism of making their children enter into binding relationships, which most adolescents detest.
Therefore, because of the stress associated with such practices and in the endeavor to avoid such control, most children will tend to withdraw themselves from their peers, because they cannot cope with group demands. That is, majority of psychologically over controlled children lack the required social competence, confidence, and suffer from high anxieties, as most of them lack the opportunity to discover their inherent abilities.
On the other hand, lack of parental surveillance on children’s environments can greatly jeopardize development of required morals and behaviors in children, because of the deleterious nature of most under-controlled environments. It is a parental obligation to provide adolescents with acceptable limits of the desired behavioral patterns, because such provisions will ensure peer influence does not drive children into participating in unacceptable practices that are detrimental to their wellbeing (Callan & Noller, 1991, pp. 86-123).
Another family factor that may jeopardize the development of desired behaviors in juveniles is family stress. Although parents may put in place control and guidance measures to ensure adolescents develop desired behavioral patterns, adolescent stress is sometimes uncontrollable. For example, in most death cases, for example loss of a parent or a sibling, most children find it very hard to cope with the grief hence, the tendency of most of them engaging themselves in activities they assume will take away the pain.
This like a case is more prevalent in most single parented families as compared to families with two parents, because the surviving parent can take over the roles that the deceases performed. It is necessary to note that, effects of stress on adolescents vary depending on the level of obstacles they encounter whereby, in case such adolescents lack somebody to help them go through their worries, likelihoods of children developing antisocial behaviors are high (Smith & Stern, 1995, pp. 706-722).
The family functioning also plays a critical role when it comes to ensuring parents protect their children from developing deviant behaviors. A functional family emphasizes the importance of good relationships between family members, with a greater emphasis on a family’s connectedness, interaction boundaries, and interdependence.
Most adolescents who grow up in disengaged families have a high tendency of involving themselves in antisocial behaviors such as drug abuse, drinking and, crime. In addition, as research studies show, likelihoods of adolescents who grow up in families with many inter-parental conflicts engaging themselves in socially unacceptable behaviors are high, as likelihoods of such parents abusing their children are high (Esfandyari, Baharudin, & Nowzari, 2009, pp. 117-120).
Contrary to this, as research findings on the influences of family practices show, majority of children who grow in families that respect positive relationships within and outside the family unit rarely develop antisocial behaviors. This is because; most of the caregivers in families that maintain positive relationships offer adolescents the required support and guidance, hence minimizing chances of externalization of deviant behaviors.
One primary reason why children who grow in abusive families develop antisocial behavior is that, majority these children are either witnesses or victims of such abuses. Hence, because of such family disagreements, most caregivers tend to neglect attending to their children’s increasing needs, creating an emotional impact on children, which they exhibit inform of externalized behaviors (pp.121-122).
Closely associated with negative effects resulting from families that lack peace are problems resulting from single parented homes. Separation of parents makes the family unit dysfunctional hence, largely this will deny children the required parental love and guidance, because in most cases, single parent are engrossed in the struggle to provide for their families and not control occurrences in their children’s surroundings and activities.
Although many may argue that, some divorced parents are stable hence can tend to their children’s needs, in most case the scenario is contrary, as most of such children lack the confidence of confiding their worries in their parents.
Socially, majority of adolescents will tend to confide their worries, weaknesses, and problems to parents of their same sex; hence, the absence of one parent creates a social gap hence. In most cases , peers will fill that gap and because peer pressure is one of the primary causes of delinquency in adolescents, likelihoods of most children brought up in single-parented families engaging themselves in antisocial behaviors are high (Ngale, 2009, pp. 3-15).
In addition, as research studies show, children reared by single parents at one time in their life they were exposed to parental antisocial behaviors, for example alcohol consumption. Such is the case because most single parents lack the required social support, as most of them are in the process of facing the reality and burden of catering for their children on their own (Dogget, (n.d.), p.1).
In addition to parental guidance and control, the socioeconomic status of a family greatly determines, whether children will develop or not develop antisocial behaviors. During adolescence, because of the rapid differentiation of adolescents’ body systems, children’s wants increase hence, the demanding nature of adolescents.
For example, for health growth, adolescents required nutritive foods; for sanitation purposes, girls require sanitary pads and for recreation and socialization purposes, children require financial support to cater for their needs. Failure by parents to meet such increasing demands can make children to engage themselves in deviant behaviors, as most adolescent will do anything at their disposal to satisfy their wants.
For instance, in case a girl’ parents cannot afford to provide sanitary towels and fancy clothing, likelihoods of such a girl venturing into prostitution are high, as most children will want to own what their peers own, a case that is common in single parented families. It is important to note that, parents’ inability to provide for their children all their demands is one of the primary stressing factors that affects the development of children developing positive relationships with their families (Welsh & Siegel, 2009, pp. 246-286).
Majority of children from families of low socio-economic status have a problem when it comes to identifying themselves with their families, because most of them have the fear of their peers scorning or intimidation them.
Hence, to show their peers that they can afford what others can afford (although they lack the economic power), likelihoods of these children engaging themselves in crimes, for example, drug peddling are high. On the other hand, in cases where such endeavors fail to bear the desired fruits, most of these children become victims of extreme stress hence, the tendency of most of them to engage in substance abuse (Berber, 1992, pp. 68-72).
Conclusion
In conclusion, considering the position of the family in the society, the family unit plays a central role in determining children’s behavior, because of its primary function of socializing children into the society.
In addition to socializing children into the society, the family unit plays a central role in ensuring children get their desired wants; wants that are crucial for the wellbeing and health growth of children. Therefore, compounding these roles it is necessary for families to adopt correct strategies of ensuring children desired behaviors, failure of which can lead to development of deviant and antisocial behaviors.
Reference List
Berber, B. K. (1992). Family, personality, and adolescent problem behaviors. Journal of Marriage, 54, 69-79.
Callan, V. J., & Noller, P. (1991). The adolescent in the family. London: Ruotledge, Chapman and Hall. Web.
Dogget, A. Juvenile delinquency and family structure. Elon University. Web.
Esfandyari, B., Baharudin, R., & Nowzari, L. (2009). The relationship between inter- Parental conflicts and externalizing behavior problems among adolescents. European Journal of Social Sciences, 12(1), 117-122. Web.
Ngale, F. I. (2009). Family structure and juvenile delinquency: correctional centre Betamba centre province of Cameron. Internet Journal of Criminology, 2, 1-19. Web.
Steinberg, L., & Chung, L. H. (2006). Relations between neighborhoods factors, Parenting behaviors, peer deviance, and delinquency among serious juvenile off Offenders. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 319-331. Web.
Stern, S. B., Smith, C., A. (1995). Family processes and delinquency in an ecological Context. The Social Service Review, 69(4), 703-731. Web.
Welsh, B. C., & Siegel, L. J. (2009). Juvenile delinquency: theory practice and law. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishers. Web.