Rathinabalan, I (2011) Study on Various Offences and Risk Factors for Juvenile Delinquency. Masters thesis, Madurai Medical College, Madurai.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: It may be idealistic to hope for a society free of crime and delinquency. Some degree of deviation in the form of crime and delinquency may be inevitable and part of the natural order of things in a free and democratic society. Furthermore, for the most part, crime and delinquency are not absolutes, but are highly determined by factors that change over time as a result of modifications in the law and changes in social customs. The word adolescent means ‘To Emerge’. It is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood. The emotional and psychological changes occurring during this period poses a unique challenge to the healthcare providers. Among the health problems of adolescents, mental health problems are second on the list next to the nutritional problems. Antisocial behavior is inevitable in the course of development of children and is among the most common presenting complaints in the practice of child and adolescent psychiatry. Not all antisocial behavior is pathological. Normative risk-taking behavior and isolated incidents of antisocial behavior have to be delineated from syndromal clustering of behavior problems. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: To assess the common offences and the risk factors for juvenile delinquency under our conditions. DISCUSSION: In our study, theft is the most common offence committed by the delinquents. This is similar to the National Statistics of our country (20). Murder comes next in the list followed by hurt. Among the 61 delinquents, sixteen were there in the special home for the second time, five were there for the third time, one was there for more than three times. This fact underlines the need to intervene more effectively. Even though age more than 15 years does not show statistically significant association, most of the delinquents, i.e. 50(82%) of the total 61 are aged more than 15 years, which is in agreement with the National Statistics (20) . Delinquents are 62 times more likely to be males when compared to normal children. This is similar to the National Statistics, which indicates that delinquency is significantly more common among boys than in girls (20). This may be due to the biological differences, cultural values, different parenting attitudes and protective nature of our society towards female sex. Lower socioeconomic status does not emerge as a significant factor in our study. This is in contrast to the earlier studies which state that delinquency is associated with poverty and poor living conditions (22). This may be explained by the fact that controls of our study were chosen from a school which caters almost exclusively to the lower socioeconomic strata. Delinquents are 220 times more likely to be employed rather than going to school. This may be because, being employed exposes the individual to the various walks of life in a society and the economical independence paves way for the defiant behavior. Previous studies have not evaluated this factor. CONCLUSION: Male adolescents, being employed, father aged more than 50 years, mother working as a laborer are risk factors for developing juvenile delinquent behaviors. Those taking non-vegetarian diet, smoking cigarettes, being differently abled, having a family history of separated parents or single parenting, with father having smoking or substance use behavior are at increased risk of acquiring delinquent behaviors. Children who feel not having received adequate care from parents, not having interest in attending school, truant, pursuing goal without goal, having peers with lying, smoking, alcohol or substance use behavior are at increased risk for delinquency.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Various Offences ; Risk Factors ; Juvenile Delinquency |
| Subjects: | MEDICAL > Paediatrics |
| Depositing User: | Ravindran C |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Apr 2018 11:03 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Apr 2018 11:03 |
| URI: | http://repository-tnmgrmu.ac.in/id/eprint/6992 |
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