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Family Instability And Juvenile Delinquency
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Some observers of social life have
argued that the family no longer functions as a useful social unit. They
contend that divorce, single-parent families, isolation, role conflict,
out-of-wedlock births, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, and
violence are some of the problems affecting the family today (Baltimore,
K Freudenthal 1998). The importance of given the family as a
contributory factor to delinquency has varied through the years Karen
Wilkinson has classified the attention given to the family into three
periods: 1900-1932, 1933-1950, and 1951-1972. In the first period, the
role of the family as a contributory factor to delinquent behaviour was
emphasized. A broken home was considered a major cause of delinquency,
and a great deal of research was done to measure its influence. Studies
done in the United States in 1981 for example, indicated that there was
one divorce for every two marriages. Even though most people who get
divorced ultimately remarry, the ratio of divorced people to married
people living with their spouses more than doubled from 47 per 1,000 in
1970 to 100 per 1,000 in 1980. The rise of the divorce means that
single-parent families have been increasing (Bartollas 1990).
Isolation
also is a major problem affecting many families. This is as a result of
urbanization, increased mobilization, dehumanizing jobs, and the
disintegration of communities, neighbourhoods, and support networks. The
declining impact of the extended family, which traditionally offered
numerous advantages to children because it relived some of the pressures
of parenting, has further contributed to the problem of isolation.
Violence
has been a major characteristic of the family in the past, and it is no
stranger to family life today. Marital violence is rapidly becoming
recognized as a pervasive problem that affect nearly a third of the
world’s population (Gelles and Straus 1988). A study in Delaware (U.S)
found that 12 percent of those surveyed reported having hit a spouse
with a hard object, while 22 percent has used a hand. Furthermore, more
than 60 percent of the couples reported at least one violent act in
their marriage. With a seeming general acceptance of violence within the
family, it is not surprising that some parents also act out their
aggressions on their children.
Inadequate supervision and discipline
in the home have been commonly citied to explain delinquent behaviour.
Hirschi (1969) found that the rate of delinquency increased with the
incidence of mothers employed outside the home. He attributes this
finding to the fact that unemployed mother spent more time supervising
their children’s activities and behaviour. Nye (1960) reports that the
type of discipline were associated with high rates of delinquent
behaviour, for both strict and lax discipline and unfair discipline were
associated with high rates of delinquent behaviour. McCord, McCord and
Zola (1979) further found a relationship between inconsistent discipline
and deviant behaviour. Nye adds that the disciplinary role of the
father was more closely related to delinquent behaviour than was the
disciplinary role of the mother.
The foregoing observations are some
of the problems plaguing the family, and which are responsible for
deviant acts in children. Since the family is the first social group a
child encounters and is the group with which most children have their
most enduring relationships. The family teaches social roles, moral
standards, and society’s laws, and it disciplines children who fail to
comply with those norms and values. Where these are missing due to
improper socialization, violence or one of those problem affecting the
family, it becomes a problem both for the individual and society as a
whole. Also, the fact that children learn most of their behaviour from
the home, it is clear that whatever they are exposed to in the home,
they tend to exhibit to the society. On the whole, the rate of
delinquency appears to increase with the number of unfavourable factors
in the home. That is, multiple “handicaps†within the family are
associated with a higher probability of juvenile delinquency than single
handicaps.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The family as a universal social institution exists in all human society. It forms the basis without which no society can survive. It is from here the individual picks up a “self†through the process of socialization. Various factors have been associated with delinquency, but the most important is the quality of relationship between parents and children. Some observers of social life have argued that the family no longer functions as a useful social unit.The method employed for the s ... Continue reading---
