The Effects Of Family Conflict On Boys

Parental divorce can result in devastating effects on children. These children suffer tremendous long-term consequences as a result of an event that is not their doing. This paper reviews literature and opinions concerning the long-term effects of divorce on adolescents. The paper outlines four major areas of interest: aggression as a result of parental conflict and the different types associated with boys and girls, depression in the lives of boys and girls in its various forms, the choice boys and girls make to marry or not later in life and the possibility of adolescents expressing parental alienation. The results of this

“The so-called traditional family, with a male breadwinner and a female who cares for the home, is a thing of the past” (Siegel, Welsh, & Senna, 2003, p. 194). This particular type of family structure can no longer be considered normal. Sex role changes have created a family in which the mother now plays a greater role in society and the economic process. The number of households that have children living with both parents has substantially declined. “Early social science researchers asserted that the “broken home” was the single most important factor in understanding delinquency” (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2011, p. 185). Less than half of the children born today will live continuously with their mother and father throughout their childhood. A disturbed home environment is believed to have a significant impact on delinquency. Family is the contributing unit towards children’s values and attitudes that mark the paths throughout their lives.

This research is important because understanding what makes a juvenile delinquent is necessary to know. Parents can be educated on what is affecting their teen to contribute to delinquent behavior. The family structure has been avoided by many citizens. Educating the public on the family structure can make a different in a teen’s life.

The key research question in this study is what are the long term effects of parental divorce on a child’s relationship between their parents and their siblings? They took into consideration variables such as age of divorce, gender, and living arrangements so they can see what influence they may have on the present study results and compare it with previous studies. They gave 3 different surveys to 102 students with married parents and 107 students with divorced parents to be able to observe the differences in relationships between the two types of families. Some of the key findings of this study are that females actually have better adult relationships with their siblings and that divorce caused the children to have better relationships with their mother, and worse relationships with their father. They noted that the age when their parents got divorced was not a variable that affected whether or not they had a good relationship with their siblings. For the relationship between their mothers, it was better unless there was a variable of pre-divorce or post-divorce conflict between them. For their fathers, it showed that daughters had worse relationships with their fathers compared to sons. Living arrangements showed effects for both of the parents depending on which parent they lived with. When it comes to remarriage, it had a positive affect on mother-child relationship when the father got remarried and no affect when the mother was remarried.

The statistics for divorce in the 1990's suggest that nearly sixty percent of marriages end in divorce. Given this startling figure, the assumption can be made that many children will experience some effects caused by the life-changing event called divorce. What is it exactly about divorce that causes negative consequences for these children? In what ways will these children be effected? Will these effects show outwardly? I will attempt to uncover some of the complexities surrounding these psychological questions in the following text. The unsettling fact is: young children of divorced parents face great psychological challenges due to the environmental conditions and changes associated with divorce (Wolchik and Karoly 45).

Juvenile delinquents have created a subculture that provides them with motives, reasons, and justifications that enable them to account for their involvement in proscribed activities. Within this subculture they have developed a rational to justify their misdeeds, during times when they are brought under scrutiny by police, courts etc. For instance, when youth engage in a crime, and are charged with a criminal offense, they deny their involvement. What youth fail to realize, is that as they engage in criminal acts, they disrupt the fabric of society.

Juvenile delinquency is very prevalent especially among adolescents because studies have shown that during the time of adolescence that is when delinquency tends to increase and once adolescence has passed at about 17 years of age then it tends to decrease (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002). There are many factors that can contribute to the increase of delinquency during adolescence, some of the factors can be personality, mental disorders, genetics, economic status, environment, family, and culture among others, also to understand better the causes of juvenile delinquency the social control theory is the best theory to explain juvenile delinquency as a whole (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002).

When looking at a juvenile delinquent and trying to decipher the root of their problems or the origin of their bad behavior, I think it’s significantly important to understand and analyze the environment in which the youth was raised. Sociologists have studied the relationship between parental incarceration and juvenile delinquency and have come to several conclusions discussed through scholarly articles as to why adolescents of incarcerated parents engage in delinquency. A wide variety of theories have been discussed in the various literature reviewed, but this review will focus on three main themes which emerged throughout the literature. These themes are: attachment, family structure and labeling or stigmatization.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a link between the influences in a minors’ life and the delinquent behavior they are committing. Juvenile delinquency is the habitual committing of criminal acts or offenses by a young person, especially one below the age at

Deviance can occur in any society or home but is mostly connected and associated with broken homes. Children with single parents are believed to be at high risk of being delinquent. The reason delienquency is very likely to occur is because the child is either "motherless" or "fatherless", and this may currupt the personality of the child in many ways. This is argued may lead to a destructive delinquent future. "Bad" neighborhoods, where single parents reside often leads to delinquency as the social society that single parents often live in are surrounded by deviant behaviour. The main reason single parents tend to reside in estates and currupted areas is they cant work because they have. Single parents tend not to punish their children

the stress of having a large family on a low income may lead to less

Research and etiology on the problem behaviors in childhood and adolescence often focus on the role of the family on the development of antisocial behavior. An important factor examined in past studies has been family structure, and this research has shown that youth from single parent families often have higher

Girls who grew up in stepfamilies were involved in more delinquent behavior compared to girls who lived in in-tact homes. For boys, living in a single parent family greatly increases the chance of delinquent behavior while living in a stepfamily does not. The test also showed that a good relationship with the mom and dad helped lower delinquent activities in girls. For boys, having a good relationship with their dad and lower conflict in the family helped lower delinquent activity.

Deviance can occur in any society or home but is mostly connected and associated with broken homes. Children with single parents are believed to be at high risk of being delinquent. The reason delienquency is very likely to occur is because the child is either "motherless" or "fatherless", and this may currupt the personality of the child in many ways. This is argued may lead to a destructive delinquent future. "Bad" neighborhoods, where single parents reside often leads to delinquency as the social society that single parents often live in are surrounded by deviant behaviour. The main reason single parents tend to reside in estates and currupted areas is they cant work because they have. Single parents tend not to punish their children

Teen delinquency can also arise when a teen’s parent is incarcerated. Teens that have a parent in prison are affected emotionally, behaviorally and psychologically (Johnson 461). The incarceration of a parent can gravely affect an individual because the parent is not prevalent throughout the teen’s life. The teen then becomes angry and acts out because they have so much emotional pain bottled up inside. “The children of incarcerated parents are at a high risk for a number of negative behaviors that can lead to school failure, delinquency, and intergenerational incarceration” (Simmons 10). Teens with incarcerated parents lack the assistance of parental figures. In True Notebooks, Sister Janet says that the incarcerated teens never had anyone to lead them in the right path or show that adults care about them. She says that because of the lack of direction the teens never had the opportunity to do better for themselves (Salzman 26). There is also a major cycle that exists between incarcerated parents and their children that puts these teens at risk. On April 10th of 2008, a conference at Bryant University was held to discuss the concerning issues of teens with incarcerated parents. During the conference, Patricia Martinez, director of the Rhode Island Department of Children: Youth and families stated that “We want to break the cycle of intergenerational crime. I have heard of so many caseloads managing 18-year-olds who had a parent