Reading Report on Disturbing Behaviors

Roehlkepartain, E.C., King, P.E., Wagener, L., & Benson, P.L. (2006). The handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. Th

Juvenile delinquency is not a new concept; it has been around for decades. It is doubtful that it will ever stop but there are ways to prevent it. This paper will cover two perspectives of prevention. One being types of programs offered both by communities and the state, the other perspective looks into faith-based programs and how these two types are similar and how they differ. It will touch on ways that they may be able to work together for the benefit of those that are at the most likely to fall into a life of delinquency and crime. The Bible states in 1 Timothy 4:8 “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (Holy Bible KJV , 1989). This is why delinquency prevention is so important it helps to lead the present life in the right path for a positive, productive future for these adolescents in their life to come.

The last of the characteristics of childhood trauma are changed attitudes about life, people, and future possibilities (Terr, 1999). The traumatized child may lose hope of a fruitful future, may despise a particular gender due to abuse, or may even desire close contact with the same gender of the perpetrator. A last example demonstrating a traumatic characteristic is through a 16-year-old female client. A male family member sexually and physically abused this client as a child. Although most sexual assault victims may avoid persons of the same gender of the perpetrator, as described above, there are also victims that try to gain the attention of persons with the same gender of the perpetrator. This client demonstrates just that. The client is exceedingly flirtatious with male peers and staff of her residential facility. She has been caught several times attempting to perform sexual acts with her male peers and at times becomes very angry when she is not given the attention she desires from a male peer.

Two authors with years of experience working with youth teamed up to create a book to help other parents of teenagers, teachers, and youth leaders identify disturbing behaviors. Dr. Lee Vukich was a youth pastor for ten years, formerly chaired the Department of Church Ministries at Liberty University, and currently serves as a life coach in the Lynchburg, Virgina area. Dr. Steve Vandergriff served as the Executive Director of Youth for Christ in Alberta, Canada, also served as a youth pastor, and is currently a professor of youth ministries at Liberty University. In their book, “Disturbing Behavior: 53 Alarming Trends of Teens and How to Spot Them”, the authors offer a variety of topics that they, as well as other who have worked with youth, have observed or encountered firsthand. The intent of the authors was two-fold: educate youth workers about the types of disturbing behaviors exhibited by today’s youth and to alert them to the warning signs that are indicators that youth might be engaged in these types of behaviors. The book explains the facts and statistics behind fifty-three of the most disturbing behaviors of teenagers. There is not equal treatment of every behavior, but the authors expand upon the more severe behaviors. The authors present ideas about how to avoid each problem as well as a biblical reference that can be used to encourage the youth.

After reading the book, I learned a lot of valuable lessons for my future ministry. I kept thinking how I should respond to today’s teens lives appropriately. It seems hard to stay in line as the world is changing so fast. I found an interesting fact that is adolescents’ eager to make a relationship with significant adults. Although they seem showing rejection to adults, because of their sense of abandonment, they want to have one-on-one time to get help from their

Dean has written a disturbing yet thought-provoking book on the current religious state of America’s teenagers. The background research for this book was the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). This was one of the largest studies ever of the religious views of teenagers. Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls “moralistic therapeutic deism.” In other words, it’s a watered-down faith that depicts God as a “divine therapist” whose primary objective is to boost people’s self-esteem.

“The most important factor in whether young people leave the church or remain steadfast in their faith is whether they have a safe haven to express their doubts and concerns regarding their faith before leaving home. Such a refuge is found in two places: their home and their church youth ministry” ("Why Are So Many Young People Falling Away from the Faith?"). Young people in today’s culture are constantly judged by the people around them. To fit in many push away from their faith to seem “cooler” to their peers. The younger generations don’t develop a grounded relationship with their faith and have fewer and fewer people to guide them.

Juvenile delinquents experience family aggression and violence frequently which can lead to psychological issues of antisocial behavior. Violence within the home is the leading cause of injury to women with the shocking statistics of between 2 million and 4 million women are being battered in their homes yearly. This results in approximately 3.5 million children witnessing this type of violence in their homes. With so many children experiencing witnessing this chronic violence there are certain development effects it has on children, including; truncated moral development, pathological adaption to violence, and identification with the aggressor (McWhirter, 2013).

Juvenile sexual offenders more frequently experienced internalizing problems, had poor self esteem, social isolation and more frequently experienced sexual abuse in their early childhoods than non-sexual offenders. In addition, juvenile sexual abusers also exhibited more problems in their peer relationships. There is other research that has shown substantial evidence for a relationship between juvenile sexually abusive behavior and family dysfunction, and violence. Typically speaking abusers grew up in dysfunctional families characterized by inconsistent care, known parental criminal behavior and substance use. They

Individuals abused as a child are more likely to turn to substance abuse and violence. Their environment socialized them with violence being the answer to all questions or stressed them out enough to run away as an adolescent, nurtured by gangs where they solve problems with violence (69). Some even confide in strangers where they’d be exposed to drugs and later abuses to cope with stress and mental deficiencies. Frequently they are targeted by perpetrators because their vulnerability makes them easy to manipulate and exploit, allowing them to be victimized again (73).

As a whole, according to the General Strain Theory, adolescents are more vulnerable than either younger children or adults to the strains that are a normal part of life. Without strong, fully-developed coping mechanisms, the loss of a close friend or family member, the perceived inability to reach a desired goal, or the introduction of a negative stimulus in life can motivate an adolescent toward a life of delinquency. There is hope, however. It is up to communities, and particularly schools (which for many adolescents are the one “safety net” within the community) to be observant and to offer opportunities for mentoring, for success, and for intervention before youths feel like the only option for success or healing is

In many circumstances, close families often sport strikingly different expectations and rules for their children, as red contrasts to blue. Whilst neither convention tolerates sin, jealousy and peer-pressure drive teens to act contrary to their parents’ will. As Paul laid down in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord”, so must children follow. Another stronger, and darker, source threatens to trickle in, quietly nudging a teen to sin: the voice of his culture. Pressure abounds from the surrounding culture and twisted worldviews, like sinking to the suffocating depths of a pond, and total immersion in a culture glutted on immorality produces personal sin. Building up, like arsenic in a body, desire and pressure to disobey authority whispers like a seemingly beautiful yet frosty voice from every corner of the

The Bible speaks of our contemporary society as exhibiting an obvious self-sufficiency that disgusts God and hurts our communal living – for God intended that we lived as each other’s keeper. Young people have embraced the postmodern worldview – one with confused tenets that further allow youth freedom to be comfortable themselves with their own contradictions. Today, you can find that youth can be,

I wanted everyone to experience the peace, love, and value that Jesus gives us. Thankfully, I’ve been able to bring a couple of my cross country friends closer to Jesus… it took much time, effort, prayer, and frustration, but it was incredibly worth it. Now this brings us to the main question I will be addressing today: What can Christian adolescents (or any-aged Christian, for that matter) do to bring the younger generation closer to God? Well, from much study and prayer, as well as from my personal experience, I’ve developed a couple steps that can help bring youth closer to

Many studies have examined the personal histories of sexual violence offenders in the hope of uncovering events that may influence the development of tendency to commit sexual offenses (Jespersen, Lalumière, & Seto, 2009). One of the most frequently discussed events in explanations of adolescent sexual violence offending is the experienced of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. DeLisi et al. (2010) found that adolescence with greater childhood traumatic experiences such as physical abuse and rape victimization were significantly more likely to engage in sexual delinquency. In a comparative study of juvenile sex offenders in residential treatment with and without CSA history, Burton, Duty, and Leibowitz (2011) found that juvenile sex offenders who had been victimised had much greater psychopathology, including worse trauma histories, early exposure to pornography, sexual aggression, deviant sexual