Family instability as a cause of juvenile delinquency

Introduction

It exists a lot of risk factors, that might contribute to the probability that teenagers will
become violent during this growth age. These risk factors are not static in that they may
occur simultaneously at various times during a person’s development in their life time.
Some could occur very early in childhood, whereas others might occur in adolescence.

Juby and Farrington (2001), found that 29 per cent of boys from disrupted families were
convicted as juveniles, compared with 18 per cent of boys from intact families.

Other relevant findings regard parents of delinquent children: they tend to manifest a
variety of forms of pathological behavior, tend to be incompetent in their social and
instrumental behavior and tend to punish their children physically (Glueck,1950, 1968;
Gordon,1979; Burt,1944).

Brown (2006), shows that experiencing a family transition is associated with higher levels
of delinquency, specifically, transitioning from a single-mother family into either a
cohabiting or married step-family is associated with higher levels of delinquency, but
interestingly transitioning from a two-biological-parent home into a single-mother family is
not associated with delinquent outcomes.

Alfrey (2010), single-parent families are often financially vulnerable as compared to two-
parent families. This unfortunate economic circumstance can draw these families to
disorganized neighbourhoods where crime and delinquency are rampant.

These risk factors might become strong during one stage of an individual’s life and weak
during other stages of life. They might be from family, community, or peer groups.
According to Youth Violence (2006), “Risk factors that predict the onset of violence are
not necessarily the same as those that predict the continuation or cessation of violence”.
There are a number of potential reasons why a change or changes in the structure of the
family may have an impact on delinquent behavior and other adverse outcomes (Carlson &
Corcoran, 2001; Juby & Farrington, 2001; Pryor & Rodgers, 2001).

Although the literature did not provide a distinct profile for adolescents who commit
criminal acts, it did, however, provide many factors that could contribute to children’s
committing criminal acts. Those factors included family background, divorce, family
structure, family conflict, behavior of parents, influences on the human development of
juveniles, the discipline of the child, and the community in which the child lives.

Applying this principle to family transitions leads to a focus on not only the impact of
transitions on family functioning, including family hostility and parenting, but also to an
examination of how changes in the interaction patterns within the family affect the child in
other arenas such as school and peer relationships.

Problem of the study & justification

There are a lot of studies that have shown that it exists a lot of variables that might cause
juvenile delinquency

To know what are the main family instabilities that cause adolescents to commit criminal
acts and to remain within a criminal network it may be sorely needed to apply a semi-
structured interview to criminal adolescents?

The reason it is important to make this research is that one of the main family instabilities
manifested by the families of adolescent offenders is related to factors of their own
structure.

For example: who are the people who make up the family system, the style of upbringing,
unexpected crises, such as the abandonment of a relative, a divorce or a death.

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