Question

Write a short note on the following:

Delinquency as a concern during adolescence.

Answer 1

Delinquency refers to socially unacceptable behaviours among children aged 7-18. Violations of society’s laws and regulations can include theft, violence, assault, intoxication, murder, property destruction, truancy, and sexual offences. The following factors can lead to delinquent behaviour:

1. Personal factors:
   1. Brain damage: In a few cases, impulsive and delinquent behaviour results from brain injury combined with minor mental retardation.
   2. Dissatisfied needs: When an individual’s wants are not met because of a lack of competencies or other socioeconomic barriers, he tries to satisfy them by engaging in delinquent behaviour.
   3. Immediate gratification of needs: Some people have a natural desire for rapid satisfaction. To avoid pain or difficulty, people may engage in delinquent behaviour to achieve their desired outcomes.
   4. Psychopathic personality: Delinquents often exhibit antisocial or psychopathic personality traits. These characteristics include impulsivity, defiance, resentment, lack of guilt, and lack of conscience.
   5. Drug abuse: Addiction incurs a lot of expenses, consequently, stealing becomes common among male adolescent addicts.
   6. Personal stress: Adolescence is a time of significant emotional upheaval that drives people to engage in violent and intoxicating deviant behaviours.
2. Factors related to family environment:
   1. Broken homes: Delinquents frequently come from broken homes with either stepparents or a single parent. Children raised in such unstable familial environments become angry, aggressive and violent.
   2. Faulty parental attitude and rejection: Excessive rigidity and aggression from parents might foster delinquent behaviour in their children. Observing delinquent parents can lead to children exhibiting similar behaviours.
   3. Undesirable peer group: A number of male and female adolescents sometimes act in a socially undesirable way because of peer pressure.
3. Social factors:
   1. Alienation and rebelliousness: Adolescents feel alienated from cultural values. A lack of strong values or beliefs indicates a lack of self-control. Adolescent rebellion can stem from incorrect parenting, media influence, poor morals, and a lack of tolerance and empathy.
   2. Few or no proper educational opportunities: Lack of adequate educational resources prevents many people from achieving their career ambitions in an era of intense competition brought on by high college costs. People consequently frequently turn to delinquent behaviours like stealing and intoxication.
   3. Activities in a gang: This refers to group behaviours that intentionally breach societal standards. Adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds frequently experience this phenomenon.

Delinquents are rehabilitated through many methods, including reformatory homes, juvenile homes, and institutionalisation. Counselling, vocational coaching, official and informal education, moral and ethical training, yoga, and relaxation techniques are all used.