Avoiding Delinquency and the Growing Cases of Crimes - Research Paper Example

Avoiding Delinquency Delinquency is one of the main problems of our society today. In particular, a 2011 report on juvenile delinquency say that 2.5 million juveniles are arrested every year in the U.S. for various crimes including violent ones (Juvenile Justice Basic Statistics). With the growing cases of crimes all over the world, many would agree that the best solution is to find out and stop the cause. Although socio-economic problems are there to justify the position of offenders, researchers agree that the family has the greatest contribution in producing delinquent children. In particular, parents fail to establish the attachment, differentiation and triangulation needed to lead children to a productive and beautiful life in order to avoid delinquency. Parents fail to establish a strong attachment with their children. Many parents nowadays are busy with their jobs, business, or simply their own life. They neglect their responsibilities to their children. Feeling neglected, children would turn to friends who could lead them to negative vices. Some are led to smoking cigarettes and marijuana, taking drugs, gambling, and developing vices. Before they knew it, parents would find the situation of their child already serious and irreversible. They have submerged themselves into drug addiction, and rehabilitation, along with family support, is the only key to stop the problem. Neglect of children or the failure to establish a strong attachment with children should be avoided by every parent because such failure could lead to the failure to control negative behavior. According to Hoeve et al. (750), the level of association between parent and child determines the amount of support or control that the parent has on the child. Therefore, the stronger the attachment to parents, the easier the parent can influence a child to do good. Bowlby (--), Barnes and Farrell (---) and Simons et al. (---) report that poor attachment to parents is one of the root causes of delinquency. In his study of 44 cases of boys who had cases of stealing, Bolby found out a link between the symptoms of stealing and maternal deprivation and separation (Bretherton 781). In another study, Bowlby (cited in Simpson and Rholes (167) found out that infants showed tension when separated from their mothers. Some even took a week to feel at ease with their mother when born in a hospital. In a study by Canter (---), he noted a significant relation between single-parent families and delinquency. The absence of a father or a mother in the life of a child affected the emotional and social skills of a child, and the effect had an imprint on the way the person viewed society and rules. Nevertheless, the connection between void and delinquency varied by gender, economic status and other demographic reasons. Canter also noted that white children from broken families are more likely to engage in running away from home and truancy. These implications suggest the need of parents to establish a good attachment with their children. Attachment is a term that also means association between the parent and child. Most researchers use the term association to mean the level and quality of relationship between parent and child. John Bowlby conducted extensive research on the concept of attachment. His view is that a person’s attachment to a parent has an impact on the development and behavior of a child until even later in life (Bowlby. 1969). Attachment is critical during childhood, and the more a child is attached to an adult, the more influence the latter will have on the child. Bowlby defines a strong attachment as a "lasting psychological connectedness” among people." (ibid. p. 194). Anyone, even a caregiver who establishes attachment with a child will serve as an influential image in the child’s development and later decisions in life. Separation from the mother could mean a negative impact on the child, especially a newborn. Thus, one recommendation mothers can get from Bowlby’s Attachment Theory is to never get separated from their babies especially to a newborn child. Another recommendation is to feed the baby properly to build a strong emotional attachment and physical bond while the child is still very young. In a study conducted by Ainsworth et al., (---) children who were well-attended to during infancy showed fewer tendencies to cry before turning one year old. In addition, mothers of newborn babies were found to express their love as they cuddled, caressed, and stroked their babies’ head. In response, babies slept more comfortably or sucked their mothers’ nipple more closely, showing signs of attachment at the earliest stage. In this regard, parents who intend to establish close attachment with their children should start at the beginning of infancy. They should make sure to satisfy the basic needs of a child and comfort him/her by cuddling and making their presence felt. Another reason for delinquency is poor differentiation. Children do not realize their importance in the family and society, thus resort to things that could make their presence felt. They do crimes because they have poor knowledge of themselves, they do not feel their responsibility to others, and they do not know how to respond to changes around them. Poor differentiation or the inability to assert oneself in situations within and outside the family could lead children to find means to gain attention such as stealing, taking drugs or acting violent. Example case studies….. Murray Bowen (---) posits that poor differentiation of self leads to low self-esteem. Individuals who developed poor differentiation may find it difficult to rely on themselves and project trust in others. As such, poor differentiation leads to poor relationships or connectedness. A child with poor differentiation is therefore prone to unstable emotions, which could lead to promiscuousness. The role of the parents in developing a good level of differentiation is therefore a requirement in every family. Emotional support and trust are recipes for developing positive behavior. Furthermore, poor triangulation within the family could lead to delinquency. When children feel neglected by their family, they will find other people or means to fill in the void within. Explanation Significance. Bowen also introduced the concept of triangles in family systems. The triangle is composed of two persons who are stably or unstably connected and another who acts as an outsider to the relationship. In a family, the husband and wife are the two connected individuals before they have a child. When a child is born, he/she is the outsider who forms the triangle. Later on, the outsider becomes the insider and either the husband or the wife becomes the outsider to the relationship. The conflicts and family dynamics within the triangle make the relationship either strong or destructed. Applying the concept of the triangle in real-life situation will help parents to control and maintain good family dynamics. Consequently, equipped with knowledge of Bowen’s triangles, parents will find it easier to determine outsiders in their children’s life and the effects that outside forces can bring to the child and even to the whole family. With this, they will find it easier to lead children to good influences and save them from the bad ones. Conclusion The numerous crimes and acts of violence in the country and around the world pose an incredible challenge to the most basic unit of society, the family. Solving the problem at the family level is a preventive approach to social crimes. Seeing from the preventive angle, parents should be aware of their children’s struggles for attachment, differentiation and triangulation. With knowledge and ability to portray proper roles in the family, parents will succeed in producing responsible and mature individuals who are ready to face obstacles in life. Works Cited Bowlby, John. A Secure Base. NY: Routledge, 2005. Bretherton, Inge. The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology. Vol. 28, 1992: 759-775. Canter, R. Family Correlates of Female and Male Delinquency. Criminology. Vol.20; 149-167. Hoeve, Machteld, Geert Jan Stams, Claudia van der Put, Judith Semon Dubas, Peter van der Laan and Jan Gerris. A Meta-analysis of Attachment to Parents and Delinquency. 27 January 2012. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 21 April 2013. Web. Juvenile Justice Basic Statistics. 2011. Frontline PBS. 22 April 2013. Web. Simpson, Jeffrey and Steven Rholes. Attachment Theory and Close Relationships. NY: Guilford Press, 1988. Hirschi--- Read More