The Family

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The Family Delinquency
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Do you know?

• Is there a link between family relations and
  juvenile delinquency?
• What is the relationship between family breakup
  and delinquent behavior?
• Why do families in conflict produce more
  delinquents than those that function harmoniously?

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Do you know?

• What is the association between inconsistent
  child discipline/supervision and juvenile crime?

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Do you know?

• How is child abuse defined?
• How widespread is child abuse?
• What causes child abuse?
• What is the association between child abuse and
  delinquent behavior?

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The Changing American Family

• The traditional extended family is a thing of the
  past
• Children living with both parents - decreasing
• Nuclear family - a dangerous hothouse of emotions
• Childrearing delegated to TV and daycare

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Changing Family

• 3/4 of moms with school age children work
• Up from 50 in 1970, 40 in 1960
• Changing gender roles

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Family Makeup

• Single moms increased from 3 million to 10
  million since 1970
• Single dad increased from 393,000 to 2 million
• 68 of children live in two parent families
  today, compared with 76 in 1980

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Kids living with one parent

• Almost 20 million
• 16.5 m with mom, 3.3 m with dad
• 3/10 live with single dad and his unmarried
  partner
• 1/10 live with single mom and her unmarried
  partner

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Family Disruption

• 37 of African American children live with two
  parents
• 74 of white children live with two parents
• 75 of AA children will experience parental
  separation or divorce before age 16

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Teen Moms

• 500,000 children born to teen moms every year
• 200,000 to girls under 18
• 1/3 of births are to unmarried moms
• Teen birthrate is declining - 28 since 1990 but
  not in Corpus Christi

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Familys Influence on Delinquency

• Divorce-delinquency link? Some say yes, some say
  no.
• Affects girls and white youths and the affluent
  more than males, minorities and the poor
• May influence agents of the justice system more
  than it does the youth

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Self-Report Data

• Fail to establish clear-cut relationship between
  broken homes and delinquency!
• Kids from intact family as likely to self-report
  delinquency

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Divorce Reconsidered

• Research does show link between traumatic family
  breakup and delinquency
• Father absence is responsible for some problems
• Kids are less likely to finish high school and to
  get work, more likely to become teen mom

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Family Conflict

• Intra-family conflict common
• Link between parental conflict and delinquency
  clear
• Witnessing discord or violence affects emotional
  stability
• Little difference between witnessing and being
  victim

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Physical Discipline

• Even minimal amounts of physical punishment may
  increase likelihood of using violence
• Effects greatest among white children, less among
  black and Latino children
• Powerful relationship between exposure to
  physical punishment and later aggression

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Physical Discipline

• High correlation to street crime
• Linked to secretiveness and dishonesty
• Weakens the bond between parents and children
• Lowers childrens self-esteem

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Overly strict discipline

• Linked to anti-social behaviors
• Linked to higher risk of neurological dysfunction
• Brain abnormalities linked to violent crime

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Corporal Punishment

• Link between corporal punishment, delinquency,
  spousal abuse, and adult crime.
• Research in 10 European countries shows that it
  is related to homicide rate

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Adequacy of Supervision

• Inadequate or inconsistent supervision can
  promote delinquency
• Overly permissive parenting linked to drug use
  and precocious sex
• Closely supervised children less likely to be
  delinquency

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Family Size

• Larger families more likely to produce
  delinquents
• Fewer resources - emotional and financial

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Family Deviance

• Powerful influence on delinquency
• Disrupts familys role as agent of social control
• Intergenerational deviance - Genetics?
  Environment? Physiological? Child-rearing
  factors? Yes.
• Sibling influences Contagion effect

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Child Abuse

• Physical, sexual or emotional trauma including
  neglect to give proper care and attention, for
  which no reasonable explanation can be given

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Neglect

• Passive neglect by a parent or guardian,
  depriving children of food, shelter, health care
  and love

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Emotional Abuse or Neglect

• Constant criticism or rejection. Inadequate
  nurturing, inattention to a childs emotional
  development, lack of concern about maladaptive
  behavior.

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Physical Abuse

• Beating, throwing, shooting, stabbing, burning,
  drowning, suffocating, biting, or deliberately
  disfiguring a child.

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Effects of Child Abuse

• 70-80 of offenders have had abusive backgrounds
• Many report serious injury by parent or guardian
• More than 50 of court-referred youth have
  experienced abuse
• Abused youth are at higher risk of delinquent
  involvement

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Abuse-Delinquency Link

• Most abused youth do not become delinquents
• Many delinquent youths come from model homes
• More abused than non-abused youth become involved
  in delinquency
• Involved in more status offenses

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