Family Factors and delinquency

FAMILY FACTORS AND DELINQUENCY

By Mary Kendall Dickerson

Midlands Tech College (MTC)

SOC 101

ABSTRACT: FAMILY FACTORS AND DELINQUENCY

INTRODUCTION

In the past few years, the rate of increase of delinquency cases among the young generation is alarming. Delinquency refers to an adolescent under the age of majority who breaks the law. The age of majority varies between the age of seventeen and eighteen, depending on the state. Crime rates tend to rise during the teenage years and then fall as a person gets older. (textbook - add cite) Many sources looking into the issue have associated the increase of these cases on social factors such as family-related factors. As explained by (Dick et al., 2018), social factors like family and close friends have a huge effect on the development of antisocial behavior and delinquency. The extensive research done will be looking into family factors that have been associated with the development of delinquency that includes family structure, family interaction, social setting, and peer influences. Hence it is true that family factors as a social cause of crime and delinquency play a key role.

Family structure is an important element while looking into the reasons behind the high rates of delinquency. As explained by (Boccio & Beaver, 2017), broken families have a lot of influence on juvenile delinquency. Other factors such as low socioeconomic status, abusive or neglectful parents/caregivers, and a poor parent/caregiver relationship are also influences of high delinquency rates as seen in works of literature of (Farrington et al., 2016).

In this paper, I have focused on elements of a family that cause delinquency, with a keen emphasis on family structure, social setting, and family interaction. All of the causes have been represented with utmost clarity thus proving that family factors are a major cause of delinquency.

LITERATURE REVIEW

REFERENCES

Textbook - need to add citation

Boccio, C. M., & Beaver, K. M. (2017). The Influence of Family Structure on Delinquent Behavior. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 17(1), 88–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204017727836

Dick, S. J., Forsyth, C. J., Chen, J., Forsyth, Y. A., Biggar, R. W., & Burstein, K. (2018). School and Peers: Examining the Influence of Protective Factors on Delinquency and Age of Onset. Deviant Behavior, 40(4), 476–483. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2018.1438837

Farrington, D. P., Ttofi, M. M., & Piquero, A. R. (2016). Risk, promotive, and protective factors in youth offending: Results from the Cambridge study in delinquent development. Journal of Criminal Justice, 45, 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2016.02.014