Social Status or Parents?

A child’s family greatly affects a child’s fundamental development. How much of an influence does economic status and parenting have on a child? Can you blame the parents or social status for juvenile delinquent behavior?

Many child psychologists say  there is a common thread between juvenile delinquent children, low self- esteem due to absent parents, and parental negligence; mainly caused by parents with their own chemical dependency issues or incarceration . Psychologists Ziggler and Taussig state that “precursors to later frequent offending include poor child-rearing practices, poor parental supervision, criminal parents and siblings, low family income, large family size, poor housing, low intelligence, and low educational attainment” (Zigler and Taussig 998). Whatever the case may be according to well-known psychologist Leo Buscaglia, there is severe lack of structure and lack of healthy nurturing in most homes. This may be  due to socioeconomics, in which both parents must work to meet financial burdens or single parents who are working several jobs to make ends meet and having someone else care for their children.  Whatever the case may be, Buscaglia argues that the most essential need of the child is  quality parent time at home. According to Buscaglia  quality time reinforces connection, giving the child a sense of belonging, of acceptance, and of being loved and nurtured. This parenting relationship helps to grow a child’s self-esteem. Furthermore, a juvenile is more likely to portray his or her parental role in their daily problem solving . Meaning, if violence and profanity are commonly used in the home to deal with problems, the juvenile learns that hostility and intimidation is key in getting what they want.  Regardless of what the juvenile’s moral compass of right or wrong, the child will react to the problem how he is taught. 

Many believe that the majority of crimes among teens reflect stereotypes or lower socio-economic communities’ where ethnic minorities are more prevalent.  On the contrary, there is an incredible number of cases where juveniles from wealthy families commit crimes. An example of this would be the Columbine High School shootings in 1993. It was later revealed that the two white male juvenile shooters were both children of doctors, who lived in upper class, gated communities. Another similar scenario is of three wealthy teenage girls who robbed stores and banks wearing Barbie masks in Beverly Hills, all of which came from affluent families. Their reasoning was simply to seek thrills due to their boredom. In some studies economic status is directly associated with delinquent behavior, other studies have found that regardless of socioeconomic status, that children who were raised by distressed and unsupportive caregivers in unstable families had a greater chance of developing problem behaviors than children who had nurturing caregivers and grew up in supportive homes (Zigler and Taussig 999). This shows that a families’ social status alone does not determine if a juvenile will become a delinquent.

There are masses of examples of teens with problems today; ranging from those who come from affluent backgrounds to those who have more economical challenges. The economic status of a child does not determine whether or not that child will be delinquent.  Although economic status can be a contributing factor to a parent’s ability to effectively raise their children. Positive parenting,  involvement in a child’s daily life, and creating a loving environment all contribute to preventing a child from a life of crime. This positive parenting creates confidence and love within the child; influencing the child’s life by positively affecting their social and mental development as well as their morals. Social status alone is not a precursor to a juvenile becoming a delinquent. However the absence of quality parenting is a contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. Through involvement and support parenting can greatly reduce juvenile delinquent behavior.

Zigler, Edward, and Cara Taussig. "Early Childhood Intervention." American Psychologist 47.8 (1992): 997-1007. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.

Buscaglia, Leo. Loving Each Other The Challenge of Human Relationships. New York: SLACK Incorporated Distributed, Random House publishing group, 1984.