Family risk factors are predictors of offending - Essay Example

Family Risk Factors are Predictors of Offending Research offers a wide range of factors that are associated with the development of disruptive behaviour. Offending can be attributed to four kinds of risk and protective factors: individual risk factors, family risk factors, peer risk factors, and school risk factors, and community risk factors. However, the signs that a child is heading toward offending varies from child to child and usually a result of combination of many factors (University of Pittsburg, 2002). The prevalence of one or more risk factors in a child's life is not always the best predictor of outcomes and children vary in terms of how they respond to risk. Risk factors are context-dependent and vary over time and with different circumstances. Where a combination of risk factors exist, a poor outcomes for the children is increased (McCarthy, 2004). For example, poor parenting is a risk factor, but when coupled with a child's poor academic performance in a school where rules of conduct are laidback and teachers are dissatisfied, the chances of the child actually committing a crime increases (University of Pittsburg, 2002). The predictors of offending varies according to age group. For children aged between 6 and 11, committing an offence appears to be the best predictor of future delinquent behaviour; the strongest predictors for children aged 12 to 14 are a lack of social ties and association with antisocial peers (McCarthy, 2004). Risk and protective factors changes over time. Minor changes in either of them can have important ripple effects on other factors and thereby substantially change the probability of a person to get involved in offending (McCarthy, 2004). Moreover, emotional and cognitive development appear to be associated with children's ability to control social behavior within the first 2 years of life. Evidence suggests that these factors play an important role in the development of early delinquency and may affect the learning of social rules. In addition to traditional measures such as IQ, the Study Group considered cognitive development in terms of language development, social cognition, academic achievement, and neuropsychological function (Wasserman et al, 2003). Predictors of offending The most important predictors, at age 8-10, of later delinquency (whether measured by convictions or by self-reports) fell into six categories of theoretical constructs (Farrington, 1994): (1) Antisocial child behaviour, including troublesomeness in school, dishonesty and aggressiveness. (2)Hyperactivity-impulsivity-attention deficit, including poor concentration, restlessness, daring and psychomotor impulsivity. (3) Low intelligence and poor school attainment. (4) Family criminality, including convicted parents, delinquent older siblings, and siblings with behaviour problem. (5) Family poverty, including low family income, large family size, and poor housing. (6) Poor parental child-rearing behaviour, including harsh and authoritarian discipline, poor supervision, parental conflict and separation from parents. Assessing Family-based Risk The influence of family is an essential factor in child development. Family management problems, family conflict and inappropriate modelling behaviours such as parental involvement in criminal activities, drug abuse or heavy drinking may all affect whether a child becomes involved in delinquent and offending behaviour (McCarthy, 2004). Children and their families defy thin descriptions. Social, environmental, and family risk factors tend to cluster, and any number of them can occur together within the same family (Wasserman et al, 2003). For some children, the primary risk factor may be a family risk factor such as lack of parental supervision; for others, it may be an individual risk factor such as a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Cicchetti and Rogosch, 1996; Wasserman et al, 2003). Other social adversities in families can affect children's delinquency. These factors include parenting, maltreatment, family violence, divorce, parental psychopathology, familial antisocial behaviors, teenage parenthood, family structure, and family size (Wasserman et al, 2003). Parenting Insufficient parenting practices are amongst the most prevailing predictors of early offending (e.g., Hawkins et al., 1998). Compared with families in which the children do not have conduct problems, families of young children with conduct problems have been found to be eight times more likely to engage in conflicts involving discipline, to engage in half as many positive interactions, and, often unintentionally, to reinforce negative child behavior (Gardner, 1987; Patterson and Stouthamer- Loeber, 1984). Three specific parental practices are particularly associated with early conduct problems: (1) a high level of parent-child conflict, (2) poor monitoring, and (3) a low level of positive involvement (Wasserman et al., 1996; Wasserman et al, 2003). Travis Hirschi, a scholar in the field of crime and juvenile delinquency as well as other areas, has a number of theories about juvenile delinquency. A few of his most praised theories are social control theory which is any illegal behaviour that occurs within the moment, not planned. Hirschi believes that poor parenting and families that are unable or unwilling to monitor their child's behaviors lack self control. For these theories to play out in an effective manner, self-control would need to work before social control can work. Hirschi believes that whoever is the most conformist in society, not necessarily the smartest will have the most self-control. Travis Hirshi argues that too much autonomy is not a good thing when dealing with interpersonal relationships amongst children (Wikipedia, 2005). Maltreatment Abuse of children usually occurs with other family risk factors associated with early-onset offending. Focusing specifically on the relationship between physical abuse and children's hostility, one study suggests that 20 percent of abused children become delinquent before reaching adulthood (Lewis, Mallouh, and Webb, 1989). Clearly, most physically abused children do not go on to become antisocial or violent. However, one study that compared children without a history of abuse or neglect with children who had been abused or neglected found that the latter group accrued more juvenile and adult arrests by the age of 25 (Widom, 1989). Abused or neglected children also offended more frequently and began doing so at earlier ages (Wasserman et al, 2003). Family Violence Approximately 3.3 million children witness physical and verbal spouse abuse each year (Jaffe, Wolfe, and Wilson, 1990). Exposure domestic violence has been linked to increased behavior problems, especially when they grow up (Reid and Crisafulli, 1990). However, none is known about the range of age when children are most vulnerable or how long associations persist. In most families, when the wife is battered by the husband, children are also battered (McKibben, De Vos, and Newberger, 1989). The co-occurrence of child abuse and witnessing domestic violence affects children's adjustment more than twice as much as witnessing domestic violence alone (Hughes, Parkinson, and Vargo, 1989). Other factors that impose additional risk in violent families include a high incidence of other behavior problems (e.g., alcohol abuse and incarceration) in male batterers. Maternal psychological distress may also expose children to additional indirect risks, such as the mother being emotionally unavailable to the children (e.g., Zuckerman et al., 1995; Wasserman et al, 2003). Divorce Compared with children whose parents remained married, children whose parents divorced have been found to be more likely to have continuing problems with antisocial, coercive, and noncompliant behaviors through age 10 (Hetherington, 1989; Wasserman et al, 2003). Wadsworth (1979) in the National Survey found that boys from homes broken by divorce or separation had an increased likelihood of being convicted or cautioned up to the 21st birthday. In the Dunedin study in New Zealand, Henry et al. (1993) discovered that children who were exposed to domestic violence and many changes of the primary caretaker tended to become antisocial and delinquent (Farrington, 1994). As with many family factors, establishing the exact effects of divorce on children is difficult because of other co-occurring risks, such as the loss of a parent, other related negative life events (e.g., predivorce child behaviour problems, family conflict, decrease in family income), and a parent's subsequent remarriage. When these related factors are considered, the impact of divorce itself is substantially less (Wasserman et al, 2003). Parental Psychopathology/ Familial Antisocial Behaviors High rates (as high as 45 percent) of parental antisocial personality disorder have been consistently reported for parents of boys referred for conduct problems (e.g., Lahey et al., 1988). Similar rates occurred for parental substance abuse and depression (Robins, 1966). Depressed parents show many parenting deficiencies associated with increased antisocial behaviours in children, such as inconsistency, irritability, and lack of supervision (Cummings and Davies, 1994). Parental psychopathology has been linked to increased rates of psychiatric disorder amongst school-aged children (Costello et al., 1997). The Pittsburgh Youth Study found that the association between delinquency and parental anxiety or depression was stronger in younger than in older children (Loeber et al., 1998; Wasserman et al, 2003). A long history of research indicates that aggressive behaviour and criminality are more common in some families than in others. For example, the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, which followed 411 families, found that offending was strongly concentrated in a small group of families and that approximately 5 percent of the families accounted for about half of the juvenile criminal convictions (West and Farrington, 1977; Wasserman et al, 2003). Overall, antisocial parents show increased levels of family conflict, exercise inadequate supervision, experience more family breakdown, and direct more hostility toward their children (Wasserman et al, 2003). Robert Merton believes that there is a serious relationship between poverty and crime. His theory suggests that if you are poor you will commit crime and become a criminal. He feels that there are institutionalized paths to happiness in our society. He believes in a society of equilibrium where goals = means. A society of disequlibrium would be adaptation. Merton's infamous strain theory suggests four attributes (Wikipedia, 2005). 1. Innovation: individuals who buy into those socially approved goals. 2. Retreatism: those who reject goals and means for getting there. 3. Ritualism: people who buy into system but lose sight of the goal (Merton believes that drug users are actually in this category). 4. Conformity: those who conform to the system. Sibling Influences Having an antisocial sibling also increases a child's likelihood of antisocial behaviors (e.g., Farrington, 1995). The influences of siblings are stronger when the siblings are close in age (Wasserman et al, 2003). The Children of convicted parent tended to be receiving poor parental child-rearing behaviour, characterized by cruel or inconsistent parental discipline, cruel, passive, or neglecting parental attitude, and parental conflict. Their parents tended to supervise them poorly, being negligent in enforcing rules or under-vigilant (West & Farrington, 1973; Farrington, 1992c; Farrington, 1994). Based on data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a number of publications have underscored the role played by siblings in influencing delinquent behaviour in both the domains of family and peer influence. For example, compared with teens with lower rates of offending, teens with high rates of offending were more likely to have siblings who also committed delinquent acts at a high rate. Some studies hypothesize that older siblings who are prone to delinquent behaviour may induce antisocial behavior in a younger sibling, especially when there is a close relationship (Rowe and Gulley, 1992; Wasserman et al, 2003). Family Structure Being born to a teenage mother has been found to strongly predict offending in adolescence (Conseur et al., 1997), although much of this effect may come from the mother's own antisocial history and connection with antisocial partners (Rutter, Giller, and Hagell 1998; Wasserman et al, 2003). Despite many single parents are able to raise their children very well, children from single-mother households are at increased risk for poor behavioural result (Pearson et al., 1994; Vaden-Kiernan et al., 1995; McLanahan and Booth, 1989; Sampson, 1987), even controlling for the fact that single-mother households on average have fewer economic resources. Other factors could explain this relationship. Especially as compared with married women, single mothers report more mental health problems (e.g., Guttentag, Salasin, and Belle, 1980), have higher levels of residential mobility (McLanahan and Booth, 1989; McCormick, Workman-Daniels, and Brooks-Gunn, 1996), and have limited resources to monitor their children's activities and whereabouts. Each of these factors on its own contributes to increased probability for child's offending behaviour (Wasserman et al, 2003). Family Size The more children in a family, the bigger the probability for offending behaviour amongst children. The Cambridge Study found that, compared with children who had fewer siblings, boys who had four or more siblings by the age of 10 were twice as likely to offend, regardless whether the parents are rich or poor (West and Farrington, 1973). Bigger family will result in the limited parental supervision of children (child delinquency bulletin-family risk). Various studies further proved that most offenders come from large-sized families (Wadsworth, 1979; Ouston, 1984; Kolvin, Miller, Fleeting & Kolvin 1988; Newson et al., 1993). However, socio-economic status remains an essential factor in offending (Hindelang, Hirschi & Weis, 1981; Farrington, 1994). Individual Risk factors/biological A person's behaviour is also a result of genetic, social, and environmental factors. Studies have defined individual risk and protective factors as an individual's genetic, emotional, cognitive, physical, and social characteristics. These factors are frequently interrelated, yet the fundamental reasons of how this happen is not yet fully understood (Wasserman et al, 2003). These factors include not only physical strength but also brain functioning, such as neurotransmitters that pass signals to the brain. Serotonin receptors, for instance, are neurotransmitters that have been associated with impulsive behavior (Goldman, Lappalainen, and Ozaki, 1996; Wasserman et al, 2003). School Factors/Community Factors Studies also show that the failure to connect to school during childhood can lead to delinquency or offending behaviour. In addition, early neurological deficiencies, when combined with the failure of family, school, and community to provide adequate socialization, lead to early-onset offending that persists throughout life (Wasserman et al, 2003). Plenty of risk factors for young children's offending also depend on the community domain. Certain residential areas may encourage learning of antisocial behaviours. For example, poor urban neighborhoods are often characterized by a prevalence of delinquent peer groups and gangs that draw young people into crime (Sutherland and Cressey, 1970). Children living within high-crime communities are often exposed to norms favorable to crime and are at high risk for offending (Developmental Research and Programs, 1996). In addition, having access to weapons usually increases the risk for violence (Brewer et al., 1995; Wasserman et al, 2003). The government is also doing its part, for example, The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 has reformed the Youth Justice System in England and Wales so that it now has one overall aim: the prevention of youth offending. The expectation is that young people who offend will be systematically assessed, appropriately punished, helped and directed to change their behaviour and encouraged to compensate the victims of their crimes. Parents are expected to be more fully involved in the process of reforming their children. At the heart of the new Youth Justice System are Youth Offending Teams located in each area, consisting of representatives from the police, the probation service, social services and health and education officers (McCarthy, 2004). Parental supervision is an important factor in the development of children's behaviour. Studies show that young people who spend plenty of time doing things together with their parents are protected to some extent from risk of developing offending behaviours. Being encouraged and praised by parents is important to children, as is their feeling valued within their family. High levels of parental monitoring are associated with higher academic achievement and lower levels of depression and criminal or antisocial behaviour (McCarthy, 2004). Research suggests the foundation for behavior characteristics is laid during the first five years of life. And addressing behaviour development early has shown to reduce the probability of children becoming criminal offenders later in life (the youngest offenders). Still, many gaps exist in man's knowledge about the development of offending behaviour, the risk and protective factors that contribute to it, and effective prevention and intervention methods. Studying these gaps offers an outstanding chance to reduce overall crime levels (Wasserman et al, 2003). Reference list Brewer, D.D., Hawkins, J.D., Catalano, R.F., and Neckerman, H.J. 1995. Preventing serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offending: A review of evaluations of selected strategies in childhood, adolescence, and the community. In A Source Book: Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, edited by J.C. Howell, B. Krisberg, J.D. Hawkins, and J.J. Wilson. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., pp. 61-141. Cicchetti, D., and Rogosch, F.A. 1996. Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. 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