final discussion

After doing some digging, I found an article from the Journal of Law and Criminology that discusses theories about juveniles and their tendencies to become or not to become delinquent. As far as factors go for becoming a “problem child”, there are several ways to look at them that could contribute. According to the journal article, there are psychological, social, legal, religious, and ethical perspectives (McDavid and McCandless, 1962). These particular points of view the authors discussed are similar to the factors posted. Whether it is peer factors, parent factors, individual factors or environmental factors we are discussing, they are all important and share different impacts for children delinquencies. I think that we should prioritize Environmental and Social factors above all else because a significant amount of affects trace back to this. Lower SES and environmental effects can lead to psychological distress, peer rejection, more difficult family lives, and lack of individual controls as well.  

McDavid, John. McCandless, Boyd. Psychological Theory, Research, and Juvenile Delinquency, 53 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 1 (1962)

final post

The most changeable/controllable factor is the individual factor.  One's own self, can decide to change their actions and shape up.  No one can do this for them.  Although, parent/family factors contribute greatly to their kids' choice in becoming a delinquent, but it is very hard to change an adult's ways.  If a child comes from an abusive home, more than likely that home won’t stop being abusive.  That’s why I believe it is up to the individual self to decide to change their ways and not follow in the parent's footsteps.  With that being said, the parent/family factor is very uncontrollable.     

Final blog

I believe that the one that you could control easily would be the parent and family factors. You can, as a parent, control how your child acts and monitor them to do so. You can change the way the act in certain settings if you are around. The way that you  discipline your children could be changed and also have an effect on their behavior. The one that I think would be the hardest to control would have to be the peer one. A child's peers are going to believe  and do what they want, whether it is treating another kid bad or not, so as even a parent that is kind of out of your control.

Juvenile Deliquents

I think the most changeable factors contributing to juvenile delinquency is the "Parent/Family Factors."  Parents can change how they raise their child and how they control their children.  They can monitor their child better, discipline them correctly when needed, and refrain from physical abuse of their child.

Juvenile Delinquency

There are many factors that can contribute to juvenile delinquency. Some of these factors can be influenced while others cannot. One factor I believe is the most changeable is parental monitoring. Parental monitoring means knowing where your children are, what they're doing, and who they're with. However, parental monitoring can be many other things as well. One thing parents can do is spend as much time with their children as they can. It is proven that there are better child outcomes for families that have dinner together with meaningful conversations. There are also several factors that are not controllable. These factors include peer, individual, and environmental factors. Parents cannot control their children's peers. Children who have a rejected peer status are more likely to become delinquents. The peer group that they hang out with can also influence the group norms. Intelligence level is also a factor that cannot be controlled. The children's family's socioeconomic status can make them gravitate toward juvenile delinquency as well.

Juvenile Delinquency

            When considering all the factors that come into play when trying to predict the chances of a kid becoming a delinquent, there are some that may have more controllable outcomes than others. One of the more controllable influences is having a deviant friend group. Unless the child comes from a tiny school where they have zero control over who they surround themselves with each day, they get to choose who they associate with and befriend. But choosing whether their peer group has a positive or negative influence is very important. Another factor that could be controlled is what group norms the child allows themselves to conform to. If there are ‘norms’ that a child doesn’t necessarily agree with, then they shouldn’t act on those norms.

            Though some factors are avoidable, others require attention and help from other people to help the child through it. A couple of these are experiencing physical abuse from a parent or trusted adult, not having enough attention, and having a rejected status in the eyes of their classmates. When looking at the parental influences on juvenile delinquency, a lot of them are hard to see or help because a lot of it happens in a home setting. Unless a child is being physically abused or is living in intolerable conditions, there is not much an outside friend or adult can do to help the kid. Poor monitoring and inconsistent/inappropriate discipline are completely based on the parents/guardians. How the parents treat their children is completely uncontrollable to anyone else, which I think is very unfortunate because it has a big influence on who they become as teenagers and adults.

Prompt for the final blog post

This is a "potato" view of the studied factors that developmental psychologists and criminologists believe influence an individual's risk of juvenile delinquency. For this post, talk about which of the above you think are the most changeable/controllable: the factors that you think we should focus our attention, time and resources. Lastly, identify one or more factors that you think we should not focus on, not because they are unimportant, but because we may not be able to change or ameliorate them.