Relationship between Deviant Adolescents - Research Paper Example

? The Relationship between Adolescents’ Deviant Behaviors and Parents, Older Siblings, and Peers interaction. of Abstract In this research, an investigation was carried out simultaneously to ascertain the kind of relationship that exists between parents, older siblings, peers, adolescents ‘individual characteristics, and adolescents’ deviant attitudes and behaviors. Applying a social learning model, data collected from 121 families from neighborhoods of Philadelphia city was used. The findings of structural equation models indicated that older deviant siblings had the greatest influence on adolescent deviant behavior. However, deviant peers were also instrumental in adolescent learning behavior. The impacts of the parents were different for deviant attitudes and behaviors. Good family associations, parental support, and discipline were consistently negatively related with adolescents’ support of deviant behavior, nevertheless parents’ discipline and adult supervision of adolescents was consistently negatively related to adolescents’ deviance. Finally, there was no marked difference in the coefficient estimates by family structure, ethnicity or race, and may be the quality of the sibling association. But, adolescents who reported to have maintained close ties with their older sibling, were of similar gender, or had a deviant older brother had a higher probability of being influenced more negatively by the deviant brother. Introduction Background information The entire process of social learning is multifaceted and mutual. Social learning impacts adolescent behaviors. Social learning theory stipulates that the influence of family and friends on adolescents’ odd behavior is superior compared to the impact of adolescents’ behaviors on family relations and peer groups (Akers, 2000). A child’s transition from childhood to adulthood often comes with marked physical and emotional changes. At the onset of adolescence, a parent is always aware that his/her impact as a role model and an agent of social learning will eventually disappear and that the influence of peer groups on a child’s behaviors will increase A number of theories have been developed to explain adolescent behaviors. For instance, Social learning theory of adolescents’ deviant behaviors, differential association theory and differential association reinforcement theory, developed by Arkers, Sutherland, and the Burgess and Akers respectively elucidate criminal or abnormal behaviors. According to Arkers social learning theory, an adolescent’ s interactions, his/her attitudes and copying of other people and the diverse reinforcements of the behaviors by others have a greater influence on the adolescents’ likelihood of engaging in deviant behaviors. Literature review Previous studies on adolescents’ social learning behavior have shown that by maintaining close relationship with diverse groups of people, adolescents are bound to learn different behaviors as either negative or positive. Relationships or interactions that begin earlier in life, happen regularly, happen for a longer period of time, and more often involve individuals who are regarded as significant and close to the adolescent. These associations greatly affect adolescents’ behaviors (Akers, 2000). Therefore, primary institutions of socialization such as the family and peer groups are projected to have the greatest influence on adolescents’ audacity and behaviors. Families and peer groups not only introduce adolescents to definitions or attitudes toward behavior that can be desirable or undesirable, act as role models to the adolescents, but also form different powerful channels of reinforcing these behaviors. Several studies have shown that the degree of deviance of adolescence change as a result of the impact of others. A number of factors have been given to explain the change in the behavior of adolescents. One of the explanations given is their associations with their parents, peers or siblings. Although the relationships between parents and adolescents’ have been meticulously examined and, these studies have pointed out that parental influence is likely to diminish in the course of the adolescent period, parental influence on their children remains significant (Gecas & Seff, 1990). Definitely, positive associations within families, parental support, constant and positive parental disciplinary styles and adult supervision appear to have negative correlation with adolescents’ deviant behaviors and their interaction with deviant friends. The survey found poor family relationships to be related to higher levels of delinquent behaviors, perhaps owing to the fact that parents in those families acted as poor role models and employed inappropriate disciplinary measures. With respect to the social learning theory, adolescents who are closely attached to their parents are more likely to copy their parents’ socially desirable behaviors. On the contrary, a study by Aseltine (1995), espoused that there is a sparingly weak relationship between parental attachment and successive antisocial behaviors. In addition, the social learning theory of differential association and differential reinforcement appear to be validated by empirical research on the impact of adult supervision. Adolescents whose associations are monitored by their parents or other adults are less expected to engage in deviant behaviors compared to those adolescents whose behaviors generally are not supervised and hence are more vulnerable to differential reinforcement from deviant peer groups. A part from the parents being fundamental role models to the adolescents, recent studies have also shown that siblings can be significant role models and tools of learning in the family (Gecas&Seff, 1990). Siblings are family members; however, they can form peer groups. It is believed that adolescents are exposed to older siblings’ behaviors albeit their lack of participation with the siblings’ engagements. On this note, older siblings serve as role models for younger siblings, especially if the two siblings’ gender is similar i.e. if both are girls or boys. Another important element of social learning in adolescent behavior is the relationship between peers and adolescents’ behaviors. Several studies have been carried out on the influence of peers on adolescent behaviors. At adolescence, most children start distancing themselves from their parents and tend to become close to their peers. Recent longitudinal studies have found that deviant adolescents are more likely to find companionship with deviant peers. Nonetheless, the influence for peers can be different for African American and European American adolescents. Since these belong to a minority group, they are likely to grapple with the problem of discrimination. African American adolescents face unreceptive environment in their learning institutions or neighborhoods compared to their European American counterparts. For this reason, they probably regard their families as a haven where there is safety, love and, hence they depend more on their parents with consequent minimal influence from their peers compared to their European American counterparts. Actually, Giordano et al. (1993) having controlled socioeconomic status and family structure, discovered that African American adolescents reported higher levels of parental control and family closeness and lower levels of hypothesized peer pressure and affection with friendships than compared to the European American adolescents (Monika & Laurie, 2002). Therefore, from the detailed review of the literature, it is evident that various factors affect adolescent social leaning behavior. By maintaining close relations with people from different background, adolescent tend to learn some behaviors that are either positive or negative. They tend to learn from parents, peers and older siblings. Social learning by the adolescent has the strongest effect on the adolescent behavior. Therefore, according to the social learning theory, it was hypothesized that the extent to which adolescents support of deviant behaviors would increase their chances of engaging in the behaviors (Akers, 2000).In summary, the following hypotheses were tested: (a) Positive family associations, parents’ support, parents’ discipline consistency, and adult supervision would be positively associated to the competency of the adolescent, while a deviant older sibling would be related negatively with adolescents’ capability of individual competency; (2) Positive family relations, parents’ support, parents’ discipline consistency, adult supervision, and adolescent competence would be associated negatively to adolescents’ likelihood of association with deviant peers. On the other hand, adolescents who have a deviant older sibling, are male, and are older were expected to have a higher probability of having deviant friends; (3) Positive family interactions, parents’ support, parents’ discipline consistency, adult supervision, and adolescent competence would be associated negatively to adolescents’ behavior, and deviant siblings and peers, being boys, and being older would be positively correlated to adolescents’ attitudes about behavior; (4) similar relationships as in Hypothesis 3 would be anticipated not to be different for deviant behaviors as the dependent variable. Furthermore, deviant attitudes would be expected to be correlated positively to adolescents’ chance to involve in deviant behaviors; (5) the incorporation of the sibling influence into the model would weaken the statistical impacts for parents, peers, and adolescents’ own features on adolescents ’deviance behaviors; and (6) It was envisaged that there the coefficient estimates would differ statistically between the following groups: It was predicted that the influence for parents would differ based on ethnicity/race and the structure of the family. The impacts for older siblings would be greatest for similar gender siblings, older brothers, siblings identified by the younger brother or sister, and siblings who had a positive association with their younger sibling. Lastly, the effects for peers would be greater for European American adolescents as opposed to the African American adolescents. EXPERIMENT PAPER METHOD Participants The sample was chosen from survey areas of four low-income neighborhoods in the city of Philadelphia. The poverty levels in the inner city ranges from 10% to around 40%. The middle-class, upper-middle-class and areas with substantially higher poverty levels were not sampled. Four block groups were selected randomly from every population group. A reverse telephone directory was used to identify 598 families with an adolescent aged between11 and 15 years. However, out of the 598 families, 489 families representing 82% opted to be included in the survey. African American or European American who participated in the study was 129 families. Instruments Standardized interviews were conducted by a trained interviewer who visited the family of the adolescent and the primary caregiver, normally the mother of the adolescent. Additionally, a self-administered questionnaire was completed by the adolescent, his or her caregiver, and an older brother or sister on the interview day. Of those 229 siblings, hundred and fifty nine who participated in the research were still living with their parents. Nonetheless, forty-seven percent of the adolescents had an older sibling. A detailed analysis of the sampling and the interview procedure is available in Furstenberg et al. (1999). Sample The sample for the present study comprised of hundred and forty four African American or European American families with an older sibling. The rest of the minority groups were not well represented and thus removed from the analyses. Only the 121 families out of 144 families, with all the information on all variables were included in the estimation. The bulk of the sample were mothers who are the primary caregivers (92%) i.e. (n = 111), others included eight caregivers were fathers, while the rest two caregivers were a grandmother and an aunt. The majority (84%) of the families had at least spend a dozen years in school, 57% of the families were African American, the families headed by a single parent were 47%,while the mean and median at the time the survey was done was between$20,000 and $29,999 respectively. As aforementioned in the method used, the adolescents in the sample who participated in survey were aged between 11 and 15with a mean and median age of 13 (Monika & Laurie, 2002). About a half (52%) of the adolescents who participated were boys, forty two percent of the adolescents had an older brother who also took part in the study, and 45% of those interviewed reported that they had at no time involved in any kind of abnormal behavior. The age of the older siblings in the present research ranged from 12 to 20 years with the same mean and median age of 16. The difference between the siblings mean and median age was 3 years. Results It is predicted that positive family associations, parents’ support, parents’ discipline consistency, and adult supervision will be positively related to the competency of the adolescent, while a deviant older sibling will be related negatively with adolescents’ capability of individual competency. It is also predicted that positive family relations, parents’ support, parents’ discipline consistency, adult supervision, and adolescent competence will be correlated negatively to adolescents’ likelihood of association with deviant peers. It is predicted that positive family interactions, parents’ support, parents’ discipline consistency, adult supervision, and adolescent competence will be associated negatively to adolescents’ behavior, and deviant siblings and peers, being boys, and being older will be positively correlated to adolescents’ attitudes about behavior; similar relationships as in Hypothesis 3 will be anticipated not to be different for deviant behaviors as the dependent variable. Furthermore, deviant attitudes will be expected to be correlated positively to adolescents’ chance to involve in deviant behaviors; the incorporation of the sibling influence into the model will weaken the statistical impacts for parents, peers, and adolescents’ own features on adolescents ’deviance behaviors; and lastly it is anticipated that the coefficient estimates will differ statistically between the following groups: It is predicted that the influence for parents will differ based on ethnicity/race and the structure of the family. The impacts for older siblings will be greatest for similar gender siblings, older brothers, siblings identified by the younger brother or sister, and siblings who had a positive association with their younger sibling. The effects for peers will be much stronger for European American adolescents as opposed to the African American adolescents. TABLE 1: the relationship between Parents, Older Siblings, Peers, Adolescents’ Characteristics, and Adolescents’ Deviant Attitudes and Behaviors (adapted from the journal of Early Adolescence, August 2002) Dependent variables Competence Deviant peers Deviant attitudes Deviant behaviors Direct effects Direct effects Direct effects Indirect effects Direct effects Indirect effects Independent variables U S U S U S U S U S U S Effects for parents Positive family relationships .14* .14 ns ns –.14** –.14 –.05* –.05 ns ns - - Parental support .47*** 27 .ns ns ns Ns –.17*** –.10 ns ns - - Parental discipline consistency 20** .20 –.03** –.16 ns Ns –.10** –.10 –.12** –.17 -.04* –.06 Adult supervision .ns .ns –.01** –.15 ns ns –.01 –.02 ns ns –.02** –.06 Effects for older siblings Deviant siblings –.24*** –.24 .05*** .31 .28*** .28 .14*** .14 .20*** .28 .12 Effects for peers Deviant peers - - - 1.00** .16 - - 1.68*** .38 - - Effects for adolescents Feelings for competence - - .ns ns –.37*** –.37 - - ns ns - - Deviant attitudes - - - - - - - - ns ns - - Age .ns ns 04*** .28 .ns .ns .04* .04 .08* .12 .07*** .11 Gender (1=male) –.43*** .21 .07*** .22 .30** .15 .22*** .11 .17* .12 12** .08 Fit indices R2 for structural equations .32 .26 48 .41 Degrees of freedom (df) 14 Satorra-Bentler scaled ?2 11.11 p .68 Goodness-of-fit index (GFI) .98 Adjusted GFI .93 Incremental fit index 1.01 Nonnormed fit index 1.06 Critical N 332 The table 1 above shows the final findings of the research on the variables under investigation. The four underlying variables were represented by their factor score estimates to minimize on the number of coefficient estimates. The impacts of adolescents’ age and gender on feelings of competence were examined as well, though an insignificant relationship was anticipated. Generally, the model in Table 2 fits the data well. Satorra-Bentler scaled ?2, which is modified for abnormality, was 11.11 with 14 df (p = .68). All goodness-of-fit indices were more than .93, and the Critical N was 332, beyond the recommended lowest value of 200. Discussions In this study, an investigation done to in order to test the type of relationship that exists between parents, older siblings, peers, adolescents ‘individual characteristics, and adolescents’ deviant attitudes and behaviors. Applying a social learning model, data collected from 121 families from neighborhoods of Philadelphia city was used. In spite of controlling the siblings, peers, and adolescents’ personal characteristics in the experiment, parents played a key role on the statistical impact for all dependent variables; however, the impacts differed for the four dependent variables and the statistical effect on adolescents’ deviant behaviors was mainly indirect. Positive family associations and parental support were related positively with adolescents’ feelings of competence and associated negatively (a direct and an indirect positive family relationship and an indirect parental support) to adolescents’ deviance in behavior. Contrary to the predictions, positive family associations and parental support showed no relations to deviant friends and adolescents’ deviant behaviors. As expected, parental discipline consistency was related significantly with all dependent variables in the predicted direction. It was associated positively to adolescent competence and associated negatively to adolescents’ relationship with deviant peers, their deviant attitudes depicted an indirectly relationship, and deviant behaviors showed both directly and an indirect relation. Lastly, adult supervision was correlated negatively and had direct relationship of the adolescents’ relationship with deviant peers and correlated negatively and indirectly to adolescents’ deviant behaviors. Conversely, adult supervision had no correlation with adolescent competence and adolescents’ deviant behaviors (Monika & Laurie, 2002). References Akers, R. L. (2000). Criminological theories. Introduction, evaluation, and application (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Roxbury. Aseltine, R. H., Jr. (1995). A reconsideration of parental and peer influences on adolescent deviance. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36, 103-121. Furstenberg, F. F., Jr., Cook, T., Eccles, J. S., Elder, G. H., Jr., & Sameroff, A. (Eds.). (1999). Managing to make it: Urban families and adolescent success. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Gecas, V., & Seff, M. A. (1990). Families and adolescents: A review of the 1980s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 941-958. Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & DeMaris, A. (1993). The family and peer relations of black adolescents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 277-287. Monika, A. & Laurie, D., (2002). Parents, Siblings, and Peers: Close Social Relationships and Adolescent Deviance. Journal of Early Adolescence, Vol. 22 No. 3, 310-349 Read More