Essay on Conduct Disorder in Adolescents

An individual’s life and success is most dependent on their family environment and how they were raised. Good parenting is essential for a child’s educational and behavioral success and is a stressed trait throughout the world; however, in different cultures, good parenting can be defined and measured in many contrasting ways. In the United States, parenting and discipline methods have become controversial in the past fifty years, and the methods for raising children have drastically changed in some households.

Throughout human history individuals around the world, of various ethnic, racial, cultural backgrounds have linked together to form what people call today families. A lot of questions come to mind when contemplating the complex relationship people have. Since families have a direct bearing on society now and on future generations it is essential to take seriously what is happening to the family. Is the American family in decline, and if so what should be done about it? “Traditionally, family has been defined as a unit made up of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption: live together; form an economic unit, and bear and raise children (Benokraitis, 3).” The definition of decline is to “fail in strength, vigor, character, value, deteriorate, slant downward.” The traditional nuclear family consists of a father provider, mother-homemaker, and at least one child (Brym and Lie, 252).” The nuclear family is a distinct and universal family form because it performs five important functions in society:sexual regulation, economic cooperation, reproduction, socialization, and emotional support. Research from the 1950 's to the present will emphasize what trends are taking place among American families. Family trends might not have expected???

Parents have a significant amount of influence on how their children will act, behave and do certain things in today's world which base off of their skills. Not all parents will acquire impressive parenting skills and be able to raise their children properly in society. In a memoir called The Glass Castle, by author Jeannette Walls shares her life story and how it may be perceived as normal. In Jeannette’s life, she along with her siblings are raised by a father and a mother who raises their family in a way that society would view as unusual or problematic. Parents are the adults who have certain ways and skills on how their children are raised in which could be considered a problem, society, on the other hand, has certain views but isn’t necessarily the problem.

What does Columbine, Sandy Hook, and the Edlington murders all have in common? These were all violent crimes, committed within the last decade, by people under the age of 21. Every time you turn on the television, there is news of children engaging in disruptive, dangerous behaviors. Juvenile detention camps are filled with children under the age 18 who have maimed and murdered others. Looking at data from the National Criminal Data base, it is a clear fact that children’s behavior is significantly deteriorated from 20 years ago. Some critics would argue that the rate of children’s misbehavior has been the same through the decades, but this paper will present evidence that children’s behavior is indeed on the incline. Factors to support this view include: data of school violence, the severity of crimes committed, and the increase of diagnosing children with mental and behavior disorders.

According to the United States department of Justice, Over sixty percent of American children are exposed to a type of violence every year (Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Ormrod, R., Hamby, S., and Kracke, K. 2009). These forms of violence can be perpetrated by a victims home, community or school, with majority of children knowing the perpetrator(s). These experiences with violence whether primary or secondary, can cause serious psychological trauma to a child and in worst case scenarios death. The 2009 survey by the Department of Justice also found that children exposed to any form of violence were more likely to engage in violence in the future and almost forty percent of these children were exposed to multiple acts of violence ( pg.2). The

Parenting involves a lot more than just fathering or mothering a child. Often times, genetics don’t play a role in parenting at all anymore. Someone who parents is merely a person who takes on the responsibility of raising a child from a young age to adulthood. This can be through birth, adoption or foster care. Due to the large scale shift in society and offspring over time, I will be using the term “caregiver” to signify any person who consistently cares for a child throughout the rest of this paper. Regardless of the title used, each person ultimately performs the same duties involved with parenting and it is no task easily achieved.

When it comes to violent crimes, specifically murders and homicides, the American society tends to react in a sense that justice should be brought to the victim(s) by giving extensive punishment to the offender(s); this is assuming adults are the players of these specific violent crimes. However, if the tables are turned to juveniles, specifically involving schools, the reactions seem to change. Rather than feeling little empathy while depending on the justice system to carry out decisions expected by society, the American society tends to have more remorse and empathy while examining ways to help prevent these crimes, as well as depending on the justice system. The taking of lives of children by other children creates a different

Main topic of the paper: “Parenting styles play a significant role on how a child’s morality evolves as one heads into adulthood.” Parenting styles and their affects on children’s development of morality. Also, what styles of parenting are most/least effective.

Conduct Disorder has been a part of the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic Statistical Manuel (DSM) since its original release date in 1994. Although, there is new information about the disorder that was previously unknown, Conduct Disorder is distinguished by a “repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate norms or rules are violated” (American Psychiatric Association, 1994.) This mild, moderate, or severe antisocial behavior begins to appear either in childhood, categorized as early-onset conduct disorder , or in adolescence after ten years of age, classified as adolescent-onset conduct disorder

Urban, inner-city children who lack strong familial ties are often raised by the code of the streets rather than the counseling and advising of their parents and/or guardians. The code of the streets is deeply damaging to young children as they learn violence as a problem-solving method. “The pervasiveness of violence and intimidation has had a particularly devastating effect on parenting strategies. Inner-city children, from a very early age, now experience fierce social pressure to become sexually active, participate in the drug trade, and display indifference or hostility to formal education.” Violence and intimidation proves more influential on the minds of impressionable youth. The advice of their parents and/or guardians is silenced by the call of the streets. For

Regardless of who you are or where you come from there’s one instrumental factor we all share. We all were raised by a parent, parents, or guardian that was key in who we became. While like many things Americans cannot seem to agree on which stratagem is best in child rearing it is indelible that the common goal of every parent is for their son or daughter to succeed and find happiness in life. However, this has given rise to some extreme forms of parenting producing helicopter parents and tiger moms; Parents that feel the need to control every aspect of their child’s life to either keep them safe or make them the “best” when compared to others. In the end everyone wants to be a good parent, but helicopter parents and other groups like them are, in the long term, hindering more than helping their child towards a successful future.

Many factors come into play when a minor commits a violent act, and one of those is parents. “Parents have a bigger duty to control the young one,”(Portman, Janet.) meaning that since parents have control and a large influence on their children then they should know that they would commit a violent act and need to stop them. Parents should know what their child is doing and should know if their child would commit a violent act. Parents should never allow their child to commit a violent act and to teach them to not resort to violence. Today parents are not involved in their kids lives that much and do not know what they are doing and how they are

One may have heard of the so-called “helicopter parents”: Mothers and fathers that seem to hover near their children at all times, helping them with anything that proves difficult, and excessively interfering in their lives. This perspective, regardless if it's an effective or harmful style of parenting, is an infringement on the child’s own will. By having a guiding figure above giving incessant instruction and rules, their own decisions and beliefs are overpowered. This passive reliance on another’s commands is being promoted by modern technology, forming an almost “helicopter society.”

Conduct disorder (CD) is a disorder that primarily effects children and adolescents, with higher prevalence rates in males than females. (DSM-V). It is an issue that possibly affects more than 10% of the population of children worldwide (DSM-V, 2013). CD is defined as repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of at least three variants and/or displays of these behaviors: aggression to people and animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft, and/or serious violations of rules. The cause of this disorder has many different factors that could be said to contribute to its development those being

As time and years passed by, society’s perspective upon family and life had an incredible shift. In the early 1920’s, “parenting