Final Exam Guide Wednesday March 28 th The Family Delinquency Being abused at home is a big predictor of delinquency Nuclear family Mom dad and two kids Extended family Aunts uncles grandparents All living together Now broken down into smaller nuclear families Now nuclear families are also breaking down Family has a huge influence on youth behavior They teach you a lot The Changing American Family Since 1970 there have been some key changes in families Family makeup Child care Most families put their child in day care Family day care 3 9 kids informal setting The people who are raising kids have changed Economic stress 20 25 of kids live in poverty 8 of kids live in extreme poverty The Family s Influence on Delinquency 70 of kids in the US live with 2 parents By age 16 about 40 of kids experience divorce or separation of parents 70 of blacks experience this by 16 The family is the primary source and parents are the key agents of socialization 4 categories of family dysfunction seem to promote delinquent behaviors Family break up Parents are informal agents of social control Divorce is more negative than a natural loss Less opportunity for parental attachment Big factors of divorce nature of separation quality of care afterwards Kids raised away from father are more likely to drop out of school get pregnant or get arrested this is even more true for boys Family conflict Family competence Family discourse and violence leads to delinquency Doesn t matter if you just witness it or actually experience it Bad parents produce bad kids parental effectiveness matters Authoritarian demanding not understanding Permissive responsive but let s them do whatever Reject neglecting doesn t care at all neither demanding or responsive Authoritative best demanding yet responsive Key aspects of how attached and involved a parent is encourages the child to have opinions uses fair and consistent discipline avoid disciplining physically and use inductive disciplining explain yourself Family deviance Criminal parents are more likely to have criminal kids More likely to be authoritarians and in jail absent Both a genetic influence and shared environment Child Abuse Neglect Any physical emotional or sexual trauma inflicted on a child Including neglect of proper care About 900 000 children are victims each year Most common form neglect Most frequent violent offense simple assault Correlates of abuse Age most likely under 5 Race blacks have higher rates than whites Social class low SES most likely Less than 15 000 year The poorer they are the worse off The typical child abuser is usually the mother 4 key factors associated with child abuse Parents who were beaten themselves Parents who use drugs alcohol 40 of cases involve this The presence of an unrelated adult Stepparents Especially for simple assault Isolated and alienated families Those that lack social support and money Abuse Neglect Delinquency 70 80 of offenders came from an abused background Abused kids most likely to engage in delinquency 50 of kids hospitalized for abuse were later arrested for offending How would the following theories explain this TEST QUESTION Self control theory General strain theory Development of self control comes from effective authoritative parenting Abuse is the introduction of negative stimulus which causes strain and delinquent coping Social control theory Can t develop key bonds from parents Social learning theory Self select into the same situation Monday April 2 nd Drug Use Delinquency Drug use is a type of delinquency not a cause A relationship between the two is spurious Drug use has declined in most categories Alcohol is the most commonly abused drug by teens TEST QUESTION Followed by marijuana Girls have higher rates of prescription drug use than guys Pathways to Drug Abuse Alcohol is a gateway drug Most serious drug users start with this Physical or sexual abuse Behavior or emotional problems 7x more likely Dealing Associated with drug use Does drug dealing pay Studies range from saying they make 24 000 5 000 Basically they have no idea Linking Drug Use to Delinquency 3 major types of drug related delinquency Pharmacological The actual effects of the drugs caused the crime Marijuana doesn t cause criminality Alcohol is most consistently linked to delinquency and violence 1 2 of all murders and suicides involve alcohol Economically compulsive Systemic Commit crimes motivated by the need for more drug money Associated with the illegal sale of drugs Direct stealing from a drug dealer Indirect make fun of you for dealing so you kill them Drug market depends on informal social control Can t call the cops if someone steals your drug money Violence is used to control others instead Systemic is the most common type of drug related delinquency 1984 influx of dealers with the creation of crack cocaine Drug Control Strategies Possible outcomes of policing drugs Subterfuge if you police an area for drugs the dealer will learn and hide Displacement if you police an area for drugs the dealers will just move locations i e Operation Safe Streets Replacement if you arrest a dealer another will just take his spot More prisoners with the same amount of dealers on the street The harm reduction approach Primary focus reduce the social costs of drugs on society Reduce harm to both addict and society Components of approach Make more drug treatment clinics available Make professionals available to addicts for help Needle exchange programs Expand drug courts and diversion programs Peers Delinquency Peers have an increasingly important influence on behavior during adolescence Free of social control during this time Exposure to delinquent peers 95 of 11 year olds don t know anyone who smoked pot 25 don t know anyone who smoked pot at 18 Time spent with peers increases 12 of free time is spent with peers at age 11 52 of free time is spent with peers at 18 Perceived importance of peer relations Peaks at age 17 Loyalty to peers Delinquent peers as sticky friends Once you acquire them they stay around Wednesday th April 4 Peer Relations Delinquency Continued What types of youth are most likely to be delinquent Those with strain or inadequate peer friendships Controversial youth status Either really liked or really disliked Research suggests Delinquent peers increase rates of offending Causal effect Delinquent kids seek out like minded peers National Policy of Segregation Take bad kids out of schools and put them together How Do Peers Matter