Juvenile Delinquency is a major problem in the United States. Many of our youth are participating in illicit activities to gain something, whether it is money, popularity, etc. Parenting styles have a major effect on a child’s decision to participate in delinquent behaviors. A sense of family is most important for the development of socialization for children, teenagers, and young adults. Parents play an important role in that process of socialization for their children. The way in which a parent behaves to their child, emotionally or physically, is expressed to the child, which in turn allows for the child to interpret those behaviors and act out in a certain way. This goes to show that parents are a major influence over their children and are responsible for shaping them into an adult; therefore, the discipline style that parents choose to use ends up having a substantial impact on their child’s actions.
The purpose of this research design proposal is to determine if the influence of parents and their perceived parenting styles have any effect on children’s behavior leading up to juvenile delinquency. There are four types of parenting styles: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Uninvolved. The way parents raise and teach their children has an effect on whether that child will succeed and do good in life or if they will become another statistic in the juvenile system. For years, parenting styles have provided research experts with what parenting styles have been shown as most effective or least effective styles for raising their children, teenagers, and young adults to develop considerably better attitudes and behaviors. It has become more common for people to blame parents for the way their child is engaging in violent behavior. Throughout this research study, I will analyze the different parenting styles to see which one is most closely related to children becoming involved in delinquent activities.
Before I talk about the measures I would take to operationalize my independent variable (parenting styles) and dependent variable (juvenile delinquency), I would like to give some background information on the four different types of parenting styles. The first type of parenting style is Authoritative parenting. This type of parenting allows parents to demonstrate “a responsiveness to the child’s needs, demandingness…monitoring of the child’s behavior, providing clear standards of conduct, and discipline based on reasoning…” (Johnson par. 5). Authoritative parents provide a home environment with emotional support, encouragement, behavioral supervision, etc. Children are encouraged to behave respectfully and morally. They are also taught to respect their elders and to think independently for themselves. Authoritative parents promote individuality and confidence by being supportive and attentive to their child’s needs and demands. This parenting style “allows a child to develop into a healthy individual, both socially and psychologically” (Mowen p. 4). Research has also found that with this parenting style, “high levels of parental monitoring are associated with lower instances of some delinquent behavior…and illicit drug use” (Mowen p. 4). Therefore, authoritative parenting is known as the best type of parenting style because it is stable, warm, and sensible.
The second type of parenting style is Authoritarian parenting. This type of parenting is very strict, controlling and low nurturance. Communication skills are extremely low with this style. Children who are parented by this style usually turn out with low self-esteem, out of control, aggressive, and at times depressed. Authoritarian parents demonstrate “demandingness…are less responsive to the child’s needs, are more likely to use power assertive discipline, and may utilize love withdrawal to gain compliance” (Johnson par. 6). When a child does something wrong, that love and nurturance from their parent may be withheld in order to teach the child a lesson. These types of parents operate with a “do as you are told style of discipline” (Johnson par. 6). The parent does not allow for any type of discussion with the child about what they did wrong. Conformity and obedience are greatly emphasized with this type of style and discourages open communication, which allows for an increase in the probability that a child will engage in deviant activities.
The third type of parenting style is Permissive parenting. This type of parenting allows for the parent to demonstrate “high degrees of responsiveness, a lack of demandingness, uninvolved parenting, and negative emotionality” (Johnson par. 7). Children are less supervised by parents who conform to this type of parenting. The parents have a lack of control over their child. Basically, a ch
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