'Don't trust anyone over 30' - Research Paper Example

Parenting Styles and Child Delinquency In their research, Trinkner et al. tried to analyze the relation among the styles of parenting, the perceptions of parental legitimacy prevalent among the adolescents, and their involvement in delinquent behavior. Trinkner et al. (2012) found that children’s perceptions of the parental authority is influenced by the style used by the parents to rear their children, which over the passage of time affects the delinquent behavior of the adolescents. Parents can control their children by using the technique of parental legitimacy.

Adolescents view their parents as legitimate authorities more if the parents use authoritative parenting instead of permissive or authoritarian practices that, in effect, undermine their authority. Parents can socialize their children successfully by using authoritative parenting. Parenting style can affect adolescents’ perceptions of their parents as legitimate authority figures (O’Donnell, 2012). Authoritative parents demand as well as control their children, but still remain receptive and warm toward their children.

They not only explain the significance of their rules to their children, but also like to hear what their children want to say about those rules, thus encouraging bidirectional communication. Parenting styles that predict delinquency in the children include authoritarian and permissive styles. Authoritarian parents are very demanding and controlling as well as unreceptive and detached to the needs of their children. Not only these parents implement their rules without justifying their significance to their children, but they also expect their children to follow those rules without objecting to them, thus creating an environment of unilateral communication.

On the other hand, permissive parents are noncontrolling and nondemanding. While being receptive and warm to their children, they establish only few boundaries. While they may make rules, they do not enforce them. Out of all parents, permissive parents’ children are the least self-reliant, self-controlled, and explorative. Authoritarian parenting style predicts delinquency in the children because it inculcates frustration and a deep desire for revenge in the children. Having been under the influence of highly controlling parents whose rules do not necessarily make sense to the children, children of the authoritarian parents become disrespectful (Schill, 2012) and want to break free of all chains and in their attempt to do so, are highly likely to indulge in delinquent behavior.

Permissive parenting style predicts delinquency in the children because it does not teach the children to live by any rules. Children brought up by permissive parents do not know or realize the importance of abiding by the law. Children of permissive parents lack self-control (Siegel and Welsh, 2014), which in turn increases their tendency to indulge in delinquent behaviors. Parenting styles are cyclical, though the cycles are not very frequent or necessarily equal in duration. Parents may change from being authoritative to authoritarian, from being authoritarian to authoritative, or from either of the two to permissive and vice versa.

Parents tend to adapt their parenting styles according to their perceptions of and tendencies to address the developmental needs of their children. For example, parents may change from being permissive for the infant children to being authoritarian as they children reach teenage, and back to being permissive when children become mature. Works Cited:O’Donnell, E. (2012, Feb. 13). Study: This Parenting Style Leads to Delinquent Kids. Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents-news-now/2012/02/13/parents-news-now/study-this-parenting-style-leads-to-delinquent-kids/.

Schill, R. (2012, Feb. 14). Controlling Parents More Likely to Have Delinquent Children, Study Finds. Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. Retrieved from http://jjie.org/controlling-parents-more-likely-have-delinquent-children-study-finds/. Siegel, L., and Welsh, B. (2014). Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law. Cengage Learning. Trinkner, Nick et al. “Don’t trust anyone over 30: Parental legitimacy as a mediator between parenting style and changes in delinquent behavior over time.

” Journal of Adolescence. 35 (2012): 119-132.