Child Delinquency: Risk Factors and Protection - Essay Sample

Introduction

The domains in which risk and protective factors for the potential for the development of child delinquency include the child himself/herself, the child's family, the child's peer group, and the child's school environment. Other domains are the child's neighbors and the mass media where violence is shown.

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What is the risk factor considered the most important in childhood?

The risk factors that are considered the most important in predisposing a child to delinquency are the individual characteristics of the child and family factors. The personal characteristics may relate to the sensation seeking, birth complications in a child, hyperactivity and temperamental challenges.

Why is being female considered a protective factor against child delinquency?

Being female is considered as a protective factor against child delinquency because of the higher ability of females to deal with emotional situations. Boys are more likely to daring and aggressive than girls because boys tend to handle emotional experiences by hiding that they have had a bad experience while girls are expressive and more social and, therefore, can share their feelings with members of the society of the family. Better ability to share enables females to get better perspectives from older persons on how to deal with emotional situations. Since they tend to share, they are more likely to deal emotions experience using pro-social means hence the gender is a protective factor.

Identify and describe Cognitive and Emotional Factors that contribute to Delinquency?

Cognitive factors are those factors relate to how children think and solve problems they encounter in their lives. The cognitive factors include the IQ of the child, language development, academic achievement, social cognition, and a neuropsychological function. A child with better cognitive skills would reduce the risk of exposure to child delinquency. For instance, a child with poor language development may not achieve academically like the rest of the children in school, and this inability may again inhibit the child from sharing their academic challenges with the teachers. This can easily attract ridicule from fellow children, creating an environment for the development of aggressive and antisocial behaviors.

Emotional factors are related to the emotional nature of the child. Hypersensitive children are more likely to be delinquents if they further exposed to other risk factors. For instance, children who are restless regarding their movements and activities are more likely to develop aggressive behavior which is an anti-social trait.

Identify and describe family-related issues that can contribute to delinquency?

Family factors include criminal behaviors among parents, antisocial behaviors of parents, substances abuse within the family, and poor child-upbringing practices among parents. The family is a vital source of socialization for children. Lack of parental supervision can lead to increased antisocial behaviors. When parents are absent, children who portray behaviors such as aggressiveness to others may not get the remands or punishments that would make them know that such behavior is wrong. Violence in the family, especially on the mother, may deny the child the, emotional needs because that mother is emotionally disturbed as well. This can negatively affect the child's emotions. Cases such as divorce can even make emotional needs unavailable to children. Factors such as substance abuse increase changes of parents neglecting children or fighting.

Adolescence is a time in a youth's life where peers influence behavior as much as or more than parents. Identify negative behavior influences which lead to delinquency?

Bullying others, experimenting with drug abuse and participation in fights after being dared to do so by peers are can lead to delinquency. Bullying others can easily make one aggressive to peers who they see as the victim to be bullied. If it continues without correction, it can lead to repeated acts hence delinquency. Experiment with drugs can expose the youth to addiction which can result in other antisocial behaviors such as gang membership. Like bullying, engaging in 'competition' fights can make children aggressive because they would think violence is a good thing.

The Case of Cynthia

Being female is a protective factor for Cynthia. Having superior speech and language skills can also be a protective factor for Cynthia. High academic achievement also reduces the risk of antisocial behavior. If Cynthia has a high degree of involvement and interactions with others both in school and neighborhood settings, then that is a protective factor. Living in a drug-free neighborhood can be further be used as a protective factor. Lastly, living in an affluent neighborhood can be a protective factor for Cynthia.