Magnusson (1988) and Brofenbrenner (1979) state that social environment in which a person is embedded is essential in the study of their behavior. The theoretical framework of developmental and life course theories of crime allow for the addition of the dynamic element of time and places an emphasis on the longitudinal processes of how the interaction between the individual and his or her social environments constrain and influence behavior. This longitudinal perspective opens up the possibility that the peer social environment is one that is dynamic. Friendships can be added and terminated resulting in the number of friends reported changes from childhood into and through adolescence. Children moving from intimate elementary classroom settings into a broader age range of adolescents in junior high and high school increases the potential for developing friendships with older adolescents. At the same time, the quality of the relationships with these friends may also be changing. Adolescent relationships are becoming more intimate than those of childhood with the sharing of intimate feelings and being aware of the needs of others becoming a prominent feature of friendship during adolescence. However, even though several aspects of the peer social environment may be undergoing transition and change during adolescence it is also during this time that friendships are hypothesized as becoming the most important social context in which an adolescent functions. Accordingly, time spent in the peer social environment occupies the greatest part of an adolescent’s day (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson 1984). If this is the case, a natural question to ask is what happens to the pattern of influence peers have on delinquent outcomes during adolescence? According to life course theory, peers will have a significant influence on delinquent behavior in early adolescence and this influence grows as the primary social environment in which an adolescent functions shifts from parents to peer networks but then diminishes in late adolescence as it shifts to an increased commitment to conventional activities. This explicitly points to a changing pattern of influence within the social institution of peers. Peer Influence on Delinquency During Adolescence Much of the prior research on the age varying influence of peers on delinquency during adolescence is based on cross-sectional studies which do not explore influence variation across the entire adolescent time frame. It is thus difficult to identify a discernable pattern of influence.
...will be seen right away, for example the link between socioeconomic status, as well as between housing and delinquent behavior. The advantage of using this study design is that it can show protective factors that might deter delinquent behavior. If a student has a greater commitment to school they are less likely to have incidents with criminal behavior, or show less of a desire to associate with peers who commit specific criminal behavior. As a result of using the analysis, risk and protective factors could serve as basis for research in the future. In addition, interventions based on imparting strategies for coping could be developed. There is still much work to be done to fully explain why youths commit crimes, but this study will help gain insight and understanding of the ways that specific factors influence various types of violent and nonviolent delinquency.
Across the wide body of studies delving into delinquency in America, it is easy to locate research on and analysis of minorities, underprivileged socioeconomic urban centers, and turbulent family structures. However, this leaves a significant section of the delinquent population largely neglected: white middle-class youth. Contrary to the factors shown to affect delinquency in others and the applications of theory applied to them, the issues plaguing this particular portion of adolescents are in many cases entirely unique, suggesting the necessity of a more nuanced approach from angles that have up until fairly recently remained unexplored.
The reason for the lack of sufficient changes in juvenile delinquency is that the problems that leads to juvenile delinquency starts in the home and there has not been enough attention paid to the family dynamics which causes delinquency. Parents are the first relationship chi...
In 2015 Marquis Wortham wrote an article entitled, “The Affects of Peer Pressure on Adolescents”. According to Wortham, “Peer pressure means, being influence or pushed over by friends\age fellows to do something you do or do not want to do” (p.1). He states that Peer pressure influences teenagers to do things they would not normally do, most of which are negative. High school students are often pressured to have sex before they are ready or else they are “not cool” and at risk of being made fun of by other students.
Boehnke, Klaus, and Dagmar Bergs-Winkels. "Juvenile Delinquency Under Conditions of Rapid Social Change." JSTOR. Springer, Mar.-Apr. 2002. Web. 05 Mar. 2014
The principles of criminology typically define “deviance” as a violation of society’s norms, which are subject to criticism or stigmatization within a social system. There is not one set answer as to why the youth turn to criminal behavior, but there are plenty of biological, sociological and psychological theories that can help obtain reasoning and knowledge to better understand juveniles and their decision making. The social learning theory is only one of many theories, which have added insight on the increasing violence amongst juveniles. It essentially implies that criminal behavior is learned through intimate relations with others. It reasserts the idea that children are born with a clean slate of innocence and only become tainted when they are taught bad behaviors. This theory also states that all people have the potential to become criminals at any moment. This is possible because in this modern society, illegally activities are always present. However, individuals have the choice to engage or not in those presented criminal acts. Social learning theory is a general theory of crime and criminality and has been used in research to explain a diverse array of criminal behaviors, including juvenile delinquency. This theory builds from recognizing the significance of delinquent peers, differential definitions of and reinforcement for offending behaviors, and the influence of imitation of peer
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1990). Crime and Deviance over the Life course: the salience of adult social bonds. American Sociological Review, 55(5), 609-627.
Many in the juvenile justice field have tried to understand the cause of juvenile delinquency. There are many different theories describe the cause and effect of variables and how they react. However, through much research, we have concluded there is not just one single path or journey that determines the fate of the juvenile. There are many different risk factors that build in order to increase a youth's chance of becoming an offender. This is kind of like a domino effect. Risk factors are described as the characteristics that present themselves to determine if the individual or youth will become a delinquent. These factors may include; home life, income status, gender, and social. It can either be one or all that play a part in the way the
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Families serve as one of the strongest socializing forces in a person's life. They help teach children to control unacceptable behavior, to delay gratification, and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can also teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. In adults' lives, family responsibilities may provide an important stabilizing force. Given these possibilities, family life may directly contribute to the development of delinquent and criminal tendencies. Parental conflict and child abuse correlate with delinquency. Though not all children who grow up in conflictive or violent homes become delinquent, however, being exposed to conflict and violence appears to increase the risk of delinquency. At this point, researchers have not pin pointed what factors exactly push some at-risk youth into delinquency. A child with criminal parents faces a greater likelihood of becoming a delinquent than children with law-abiding parents. However, the influence appears not to be directly related to criminality but possibly to poor supervision.
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
The social perspective of human behavior can be applied to juvenile delinquency because it allows the audience to see a situation in a different perspective. The social perspective allows others to “take a walk in another’s shoes.” This may help individuals better understand why someone may deviate against the norms of society.
...why youth engage in criminal activity Research suggests delinquent peers are a proximate cause than family/parental; family/parental may only be a slight cause of involvement in crime. Some research suggests that criminal propensities can be inherited through genes. Unfortunately, the media portrayals of crime aren’t a true representative of the actual crime trends, or accurately reflecting the level of crime perpetrated by youth. There are many different variables that could cause youth to engage in criminal activity, some of these major variables have been discussed throughout this essay.
... fact does matter as a predictor of juvenile delinquency. A national survey of seniors in high school found out that over 90% admitted to have tried alcohol and about 60-70 percent was frequent users (Johnson et al. 1995). Studies have shown that drug use and substance use has gone down in the last 5 years but research has also shown that exposure to peers and friends who use drugs are at higher risk to use and abuse. Reed and Roundtree suggest that peer pressure can be traced to differential association and situational group pressure along with socialization models. This is just an assumption they do not claim it has a direct correlation suggest that theorists have tried to explain criminal behavior through various theories in the past. This cross sectional analysis draws from these models and attempt to see what leads to substance abuse and then causing crime.
Children grow up and move into teenage lifestyles, involvement with their peers, and how they look in other peoples eyes start to matter. Their hormones kick in, and they experience rapid changes in their minds, and bodies. They also develop a mind of their own, questioning the adult standards and need for their parental guidance. By trying new values and testing ideas with peers there is less of a chance of being criticized. Even though peer pressure can have positive effects, the most part is the bad part.