How do modern styles of parenting affect on juvenile delinquency?

Introduction

Juvenile delinquency is the act of taking part in illegal actions and it can be described as a crime among people, who are under 18. Juvenile delinquency or crime among adolescents is a widespread problem not only in modern society, it was researched hundred years ago. Unfortunately, this issue still being relevant to our world and society. Nevertheless, by someone’s opinion, there is a special bond between children’s behaviour and parents, especially with parenting styles. As it is known, there are different styles of bringing up children, such as autorotative, democratic and liberal. Some part of people does not doubt that different parenting styles may influence on their child and his participation in breaking laws. The main problem is indifferent and, maybe, wrong parenting styles, because it may lead to a mental problem of the children. This issue exists in modern society and it can be proved by existing of different parenting styles. Brandi Dollar once said: “They are not juvenile delinquents. These are children who have been taken from homes that were bad to them”. 

This problem should be known by all because it influences every sphere on a social, mental and governmental level. Crimes and breaking laws negatively influence people’s way of thinking, on the rate of the level of life in the country, and even on the democracy, therefore, this problem should be solved immediately. Some people may even do not know about the connection between parenting and children’s behavior of his action or they think that this factor is not important to society, however, it is crucial to investigate this problem into modern life and society and make everyone aware of parenting styles and their effect on juvenile delinquency. Hoping that people will understand the importance and relevance of the problem, our society will have fewer problems with mentality, democracy and social life. This decision will develop the country’s position in the future. Besides, this will guarantee a prestigious future for the new generation.  

Methods

Collecting data about how parenting styles influence on adolescent’s behaviour and juvenile delinquency was conducted through several different methods, in general it is qualitative and quantitative. Data collection, which were gained through qualitative and quantitative methods, lead to a better understanding of this problem from different viewpoints. 

As the quantitative method were used a local survey, what represents the general overview of this question in one exact area (organization, school, city), in addition, what is more crucial, is how people reflect on the problem about juvenile delinquency. Survey demonstrates primary information, which provides project with a general idea and question about to what extent does the modern trend of parenting influence on the increasing number of juvenile delinquencies? Overall, the survey has passed over the hundred thirty people, precisely speaking 138. Because of the number of people, who took a part in this survey means almost 1 percent in this case, to be more precisely, 0.7%. 

The problem about teenager’s behaviour and juvenile delinquency is related problem to everyone, nowadays. It means that every person is under the risk of being damages or being attacked. People, who answered on this survey are mostly citizens of Aktobe city, however, the main point of this survey is to get a plenty of opinions, in order to be aware of this problem and get some details, which are very necessary in this research. Although there is a risk of that some people, who passed this survey, may answered without any responsibility or do not have enough life experience and cannot evaluate this problem correctly, results are seems to be adequate. The total number of questions in the survey was 7. 

The second method, which is called qualitative, was done through interview. This method was chosen in data collection, because it can describe the selected problem more accurate and get some additional information and data, during the interview. For example, interviewer can ask follow-up questions, if it is necessary. The data, collected from interview, is more comprehensive, because sometimes interviewee answers open-ended questions, which require some explanations and examples. This method is more correct than survey, because people, who was selected for this interview, are mostly aware of the problem, because the author can describe, explain and add some unclear information about the topic, while questionnaires may not have this information or may be mis understandable. And interviewees know what they are asked about. As for advantage for this kind of qualitative method is that the conversation is in informal style, because sometimes people feel themselves a bit nervous and the interviewer has to conduct the interview informally in order to get more information from people, who are asked. However, there can be some problems, connected with interviews. For example, people, who are wanted to be asked may not have time to interview, what makes the problem more difficult. And the researcher is required to find another specialist to conduct an interview. 

Results 

Both primary and secondary research was used in order to get information and different opinions on the topic of juvenile delinquency and to what extent does the modern trend of parenting influences on the increasing number of crimes among adolescents. These methods, particularly questionnaires, interviews and searching data on the Internet and electing necessary information, allowed to collect data in the shortest time.

Regards to the survey, there were 7 questions, 2 of them are open-ended questions, which give an opportunity to answer by own words and express their own opinion about this problem, the rest of them are multiple-choice questions. 139 volunteers passed the survey. The first and second questions were general, and it asked the respondent about his or her age category and their family status. Almost half of them are under 18 (48,2%), the age category between 18 and 25 has the part of 36% and more than 8% of volunteers were over 40 years old (8,6%). 14,4% of them have at least one child in their family life.

From the answers on Question 3, it was found out that the majority of the respondents are concerned about the problem of juvenile delinquency among teenagers, 77,7% are interested in this situation. The rest of them are not interested or have not heard about such kind of problem or not concerned. 

Question 4 was about the influence of parents on children’s behavior. The respondents were given an opportunity to answers by own words. According to answers, parenting directs influences on a child’s behavior and his temperament. There was described that parents play one of the most important roles in the children’s life and youngsters take examples and habits of their parents. However, some parts of them considered that society around teenagers has a bigger reaction to it. 

According to Question 5, which asks if respondents have ever witnessed with juvenile delinquency performances. Fortunately, the biggest part of 38,8% had never met with these situations, however, more than 10% have witnessed more than 5 times in their life. Half of the respondents have witnessed from one to 5 times.

The next question was about the causes of the rising level of juvenile delinquency. 108 out of 139 respondents chose the style of parenting as the main factor of juvenile delinquency. At the same time, 95 respondents marked financial condition as the second factor. By the opinion, their other factors, such as self-knowledge, environments and society and his or her interests.

The last question asks about ways of reducing the number of crimes among teenagers. Results show that the most effective way to reduce it is spending more time with its own family and preventative works, 91 and 74 answers were chosen respectively, while tougher penalties are the less efficient and may destroy a child’s mentality. There were offered possible ways, such as educational influence and reducing poverty in our society.

To sum up, this survey outlined the general viewpoint on these problems and sub-questions related to this topic. 

Regarding the interview, it was taken from 5 interviewees, all of them relates to the school community. 

The first question in the interview was “Is juvenile delinquency is a wide problem nowadays?”. All participants considered that it is a widespread issue, especially in Aktobe. They noted that it is a very high risk of being a victim because of juvenile delinquency. The next question about different styles of parenting caused difficulties because some participants do not have enough knowledge about this topic, however, psychologist, with whom the interview was conducted, gave an explanation about each style of parenting and named benefits and drawbacks of each. In addition, one of the interviewees, who has a young child, easily answered this question, moreover, gave an explanation. It means that people, who have at least one youngster, understand this problem. 

Question 4 is ”do you agree that different styles of parenting may influence adolescent’s behavior, particularly juvenile delinquency?”. All respondents agreed with the statement about the bond between parenting techniques and teenager’s behavior, moreover, they gave examples and real-life situations. 

The last question is about the possible consequences of wrong and indifferent parenting methods. As for the answer, respondents named several probable situations, for instance, physical illnesses, mental problems, poor socialization in society and problems with education and laws. 

Full inrewies you can find in appendix.

Overall, most participants note that there is a direct connection between parents, parenting styles and children’s behavior, but not all of them are able to divide parenting into styles.

Conclusion

Authoritarian parenting is a style of parenting, which can be described with high demands and expectations in children’s activity. Making mistakes causes punishment from parents. According to the psychologist’s viewpoint, the authoritative style negatively affects on child’s mentality. To be more precise, low self-esteem, physical and mental problems in society and others. Authoritarian parenting style can be named as ”tiger-parents”. The disadvantages of this style will include stress that the children experience because of their interests, their own needs are not taken into consideration. 

The democratic parenting style can be characterized as equality. It means that parents trust their children and respect them. Children have their own decision and choice, which is presented by parents. This style of parenting stimulates the developing self-esteem of the children and gives them more confidence. As for the advantages of democratic parenting style is that As for the advantages of democratic parenting style is that children get some autonomy in choosing their preferences, their hobbies, their interests. The children get used to this trust and children will try also not to deceive their parents, not to lie to the parents. And the children will value freedom, which parents give them. As for disadvantages, that children can misuse the freedom that they get, like decision making. And with time, they can become very demanding and maybe even they can, kind of, require from their parents. 

Liberal style is like the democratic one but stricter. The main idea of a liberal style is giving an opportunity to choose and watch the following actions of the child. It is also a good way of parenting because if it is necessary, parents will help their children not to make mistakes. It clearly seems because parents follow children's activities.

Another type of parenting includes a very low amount of attention to the child. Adolescents that do not get quality parental supervision are closer to being a criminal. In this case, teenagers have a big obligation from young ages, which also affects their way of thinking and mentality.

Regards to the primary research, tougher penalties, and wrong parenting influence adolescents' mentality, therefore, their behavior. If a teenager feels negative emotions, it forces them to make something, which can make them relax. Unfortunately, it may force them to break the law, therefore, the style of parenting has a direct link to juvenile delinquency.

Acknowledgement

I want to thank my teacher, who helped me with this research Urazalina Ainagul Kenzhegalievna and interviewees and those, who passed the survey, because this research was important for me. 

References

M. Hoeve et al.. (2009, March 5). The Relationship Between Parenting and Delinquency: A Meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2708328/

T. J. Mowen. (2011, May). Shifting parenting styles and the effect on juvenile delinquency. Retrieved from 

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1785/7bd95c44ceb451161b26db09fd238e84192f.pdf

A. Parks. (2013, December). The Effects of Family Structure on Juvenile Delinquency. School of Graduate Studies. Retrieved from

https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3380&context=etd

M. Muniza, S. Irfana, M. Shahana, P. Saleha. (2016). PERCEIVED PARENTING STYLE AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DELINQUENTS AND NON-DELINQUENTS. Retrieved from

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=95dce940-7c62-49f4-a6f8-6f06d1e2128a%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=120021586&db=afh

M. J. Thomas, S. D. Ryan. (2018, March). Maternal Parenting Style and Delinquency by Race and the Moderating Effect of Structural Disadvantage. Youth & Society. Retrieved from 

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=17ee5777-d9a6-4ea7-82ce-1a4a5a28c175%40sdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=afh&AN=127562601

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1 Gilmanov Amir, Nazarbayev Intellectual School, Batys 2/26B, .Aktobe, 000003, Kazakhstan. email: [email protected] ________________________________________________