Single Parenthood and Juvenile Delinquency in Modern Society Proposal

Introduction

Family shapes the basic foundation of a child’s social, emotional, and mental well-being. Good parental nurturing results in well-mannered and industrious children and adolescents, while bad parenting results in a high rate of child delinquency. The family structure can cause delinquency among children and adolescents, particularly those raised by single parents. Single parents have many life challenges and inadequacies that may hinder a child’s proper upbringing. My proposed research question identifies parental factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency by focusing on family structure, parental support socially, emotionally, and economically, and disciplinary actions from single parents. The proposal seeks to establish the relationship between single parenthood and the increase in juvenile delinquency.

Children always crave parental support from both parents to grow more independently and confidently. Being an all-around parent in raising children needs commitment, hard work, and sacrifice to meet all parental needs. Sometimes, the responsibilities are overwhelming and time-consuming for parents leading to less physical and emotional contact with the children. The absence of parental guidance in a child’s growth can cause delinquency and violence. The lack of parental presence and support may lead to other means of filling the gap, such as seeking peer support from external sources, corrupting a child’s behaviour leading to delinquency.

Discipline is an essential factor in the upbringings of responsible citizens. However, children living with single parents tend to get away with many mistakes because the parents may ignore or overlook the mistakes.¹ Other parents avoid scolding or reprimanding a child for fear of losing them to the other spouse in case of separation due to divorce. Such children grow up doing whatever they want regardless of right or wrong. Single parenthood also limits parents from spending quality time with the family leading to emotional detachment. Emotionally detached children can become antisocial and fail to identify societal norms leading to delinquency.

Single parenting leads to the risk of delinquency due to inadequate economic stability to meet the family’s needs. Adolescents may engage in criminal activities to obtain a means of survival and essential needs, which the parent fails to provide. The absence of parental figures can make adolescents engage in substance and drug abuse in their free time which is a crime and can also lead to violence and criminal activities.² Children also emulate etiquette and gender roles from their respective parents; girls learn from mothers, and boys learn from fathers.³ The absence of one parent can cause a child to lose focus and self-control, leading to delinquency.

An increase in Juvenile delinquency presents a crucial problem in society since teenagers are determinants of the future world. Studies relating bad parenting to delinquency have always focused on parental methods that may cause delinquency, such as authoritative and permissive approaches to bringing up children. However, with the rising numbers of broken families and single parenthood, children are getting less parental attention, emotional connection, and discipline from the sole parent. Single parenthood has also resulted in more children in the streets due to economic hardships, where they learn delinquent activities for survival. I propose addressing child delinquency from the perspective of social and family background to understand the risks associated with a child’s nature of upbringing.⁴ Addressing the issue is significant in offering vital information to criminal justice on the appropriate approaches of intervening and preventing juvenile delinquents from broken families.

Theoretical Framework

This study will base on the theory of social control in criminal activities. The theory states that a given community or family must have strong social bonds that help conform to societal norms.⁵ The study will examine single parenthood in relation to three key components of social theory: belief, involvement, and attachment. The aspect of belief argues that individual upbringing contributes to their involvement in a crime.⁵ A good upbringing leads to following rules, while a poor upbringing leads to delinquency. Attachment refers to the bonds of a relationship where stronger bonds lead to conformity while weak bonds in a relationship contribute to deviance from the law. Finally, involvement is how individuals engage in good behaviour and ethics. Individuals who spend more time doing the right thing are less likely to break the law than people who have their way. The absence of attachment, involvement, and belief will establish the argument that single parenthood is a significant predictor of juvenile delinquency.

Methodology

This study will adopt a qualitative research design because it uses a subjective approach during the inquiry. Qualitative research allows an extensive exploration into the issue, giving more insight and information regarding parenting and delinquency. The study will occur in three juvenile institutions in Saudi Arabia through a random selection of 100 participants, including both genders. Data will be collected using open-ended questionnaires and face-to-face interviews, allowing a deeper inquiry into the possibility of single parenting causing delinquency. Data analysis will involve a narrative analysis of the respondent’s feedback and primary data, coded using axial coding.

References

Jacobsen SK and Zaatut A, “Quantity or Quality: Assessing the Role of Household Structure and Parent-Child Relationship in Juvenile Delinquency” (2020) 43 Deviant Behavior 30

Rathinabalan I and Naaraayan S. A, “Effect of Family Factors on Juvenile Delinquency” (2017) 4. International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics 2079

Mwangangi RK, “The Role of Family in Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency” (2019) 07 Open Journal of Social Sciences 52.

Sari N and Nurhayati SR, “Parent and Child Relations in the Perspective of Adolescents with Juvenile Delinquency” (2019) 2 Psychological Research and Intervention 36

Triplett RA, The Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Criminology (John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2018

Footnotes

• 1 Shannon K. Jacobsen and Amarat Zaatut, ‘Quantity or Quality: Assessing the Role of Household Structure and Parent-Child Relationship in Juvenile Delinquency’ (2020) 43 Deviant Behavior.
• 2 Indiran Rathinabalan and Sridevi A. Naaraayan, ‘Effect of Family Factors on Juvenile Delinquency’ (2017) 4 International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics.
• 3 Rosemary Kakonzi Mwangangi, ‘The Role of Family in Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency’ (2019) 07 Open Journal of Social Sciences.
• 4 Nourmarifa Sari and Siti Rohmah Nurhayati, ‘Parent and Child Relations in The Perspective of Adolescents with Juvenile Delinquency’ (2019) 2 Psychological Research and Intervention.
• 5 Triplett RA, The Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Criminology