Oh, The Potato

Many of the factors shown in the potato model for juvenile delinquency are so tangled up in one another, it would be difficult to tease them apart. Family factors such as inappropriate discipline, poor monitoring, physical abuse, and delinquent siblings could affect both individual and peer factors. The lack of self-control or low intelligence could be allowed/encouraged by poor parenting––parents who are do not monitor their children could be missing (or apathetic about) their child's intelligence issues, and abusive parents could be teaching their children that low-self control (as exemplified by lashing out at others) is normal. Both intelligence and control issues could cause rejected status. The influence of delinquent siblings could lead the child to deviant friend groups, and possibly serve as another path to rejected status. Out of the bunch, though, Environmental factors seem to be all encompassing, as low SES or group norms could strongly influence family factors, individual factors, and peer factors in some cases. Every factor shown in the potato model has influence over one of more of its fellows.

Theoretically, family factors would be the most changeable or controllable. Ideally, one could just pluck individuals from their toxic home lives and place them in a safer, healthier environment. Juvenile delinquency would have lost the round! Hooray! However,  things aren't quite that simple in practice. Kids can't be removed from their homes willy nilly, and the system set in place for the kids who are removed from their families is terribly overloaded. Also, some kids may spend x-amount of time at a facility, being healed, evaluated (intelligence-wise), encouraged, and taught to deal with their emotions, may get themselves off the path of juvenile delinquency– only to be sent back home! The cycle continues. I suppose peer factors could be changed by changing schools––new peer group, new peer status–– however, the individual may fall back into old habits, and old peer status as a result.

Environmental factors should certainly not be ignored, however they appear to be the least changeable when compared to any of the others, as group norms and SES would be near impossible to change, unless Daddy Warbucks is looking for children to adopt.

prompt for week 12/02/13

Juvenile delinquency is a growing problem in our constantly changing society.  Many young people have little if any respect for themselves or their peers.  I think that the parent family factors and individual factors are the most changeable and controllable.  Parenting classes can provide individuals with some guidelines to help with monitoring and discipline and hopefully prevent parents from sending mixed signals to their children.  Positive reinforcement is a great self-esteem builder and teaching parents how to discipline their children without destroying their self-esteem could be an effective way to battle this issue.  Providing the best education possible to all children at every level of learning should be a top priority in the United States.  The young people of this country are its future and should not be pushed through school without the appropriate knowledge and capabilities to succeed.  It sometimes appears that teaching is focused more on meeting a standard than actually teaching the material.  A healthy and happy home environment plays an important part in a child’s development and growth.  If the foundation as not stable and supportive at home it hinders the child’s ability to succeed.  Setting guidelines for study time and play time can be the first step in building the structure in a young person’s life to help them succeed. 

Peers and the environment would be hard to change so it is important to instill self-confidence and support in children at a young age.  This can help them to feel confident in their own skin and not fall prey to peer pressure.

Response for 12/2 prompt

I think that all of these are so connect that all of them would be difficult to change. It is hard to change the individual if they have no desire to change. If it also difficult to make families change, most parents are unwilling to change unless pushed by outside influences, such as department of child and family service. Even when DFS in to services they only change their behaviors as long as the are being forced to. Many times parents addictions are so made that the change only last for a few months.

I think something that can change is societal norms. It takes a lot of time but our ideas about cigarettes and drinking and driving are example of how group norms can change.

I would love it if every parent had to take parenting classes, but this is something that will never happen.  

Fix SES, Fix Delinquency

With 2,266,800 adults incarcerated in US prisons, we have to evaluate juvenile delinquency to prevent more adults being processed in US prisons.  With 39.4% of the prison population being black and 20.6% being Hispanic, there has to be an evaluation of these particular communities and why there is a disproportionate amount of minorities in America’s prisons.

Minorities are typically on the lower end of the socioeconomic chain, and therefore the most emphasis for stopping juvenile delinquency must be placed here.  Because you’re less likely to have an education, income, or even food, you’re more likely to turn to criminality to attempt to make a living.  Studies have shown that increased income means you’re more likely to have a higher education, more likely to have more activities, access to health care, and access to food.

The Individual, Peer, and Parental factors are very difficult to correct because they require invasive action.  People prefer their privacy and their “belief” of what they’re doing is justifiable.  We can work on the rejected status that students feel and work on changing their environment to create emotional stability.  But it is difficult to intervene on parental factors and individual factors on a level that can radically change their environment.

Potato

I think the best chance we have of changing the chance of a kid becoming juvenile delinquent is the parents/family section. In fact, their are already tons of programs out there that target this specific area. There are parenting classes that a parent can attend to learn new ways of parenting that may be better. Programs such as AWARE and Youth Dynamics monitor a child's home life, school life, social life, etc. and work on improving that child's goals to help them avoid this juvenile delinquent phase. In extreme cases child services would step in and remove a child from a home that is being abusive.

The least one to worry about is environmental factors. I do not believe it is possible to go around changing the SES of every child that needs help. This would require us to basically just hand out a ton of money, cars, houses, etc. to children in need. Although their are programs that try to help families in need, they are helping with essential needs: food, water, shelter, etc. A child with a poor SES can still easily avoid juvenile delinquency as long as he has the proper parenting and learns proper peer behavior.

Potato Model - Delinquency

I think that a few of the Parent and Family Factors and to some extent, the Environmental factors are the most controllable.

By getting kids out of "bad homes" where they suffer abuse, poor examples by parents with psychological disorders, substance abuse issues, or their own delinquency issues, children would have a better chance at avoiding the negative effects that these factors cause. Also, removing delinquent siblings and placing them in specialized programs to help them, the other child would not be influenced by or dragged into their poor decisions and the other sibling may be better off. As far as the disciplinary issues go, it would be difficult to change those, but implementing "parenting classes" or providing parent-child counseling may be helpful. The Environmental effects by be offset by implementing better, more effective government programs than Welfare or Unemployment. Many people take advantage of these but squander the aid while their children reap non of the benefits. Child-directed aid may be a better solution. These factors, I believe, would be a wise and beneficial use of resources.

As for factors NOT to focus on because they are essentially out of control is Rejected Status. Although attempting to influence the child to be more self-confident, outgoing, or agreeable may reduce that problem, it would be highly difficult to do. Rejection is a self-compounding problem and to some extent, the effects are already permanent. The only hope is possibly switching schools and starting over. Other than that, it is impossible to predict or direct one adolescents treat one another and interact, especially in school environments.

Potato factors

I think the most controllable or changeable factors would be the individual ones. If one has low self esteem it may take some extra effort but the effort will be worth it in the end. I believe that happiness is with the beholder, only you can truly make yourself happy and feel good. If you don't believe in yourself then who will? Intelligence can also be altered. Learning is never ending and if you put yourself in a learning situation then there is always an opportunity to learn from something. Looking at the world as if there is a lesson to be learned from everything can help alter your future for the better. There is always room to better yourself but you have to want it. Otherwise the situation your in is what you believe you should be in so no change can happen, if you really want it though you can help yourself in so many ways.

As far as spending money time and effort, I believe that parent/family factors should be looked at. Spending a lot of time and attention on family matters I think would work out tremendously. Give kids a healthy home environment and the outside world might not be that scary. A healthy environment to be yourself and express yourself is at home, parents are the people that develop you to be ready for the real world and if given the right resources parents can help develop their kid into a positive part of society. Giving kids a good school with great teachers and learning methods can help in every realm of a kids life. Responsible discipline can go a long way teaching kids how to learn from mistakes they made helps them in the individual factors. Family life goes with growing up as an individual who can make mature decisions, these things go hand in hand to help avoid juvenile delinquency.

Peers and the environment can not really be changed. You cant change other people so peer groups will be peer groups regardless of anything. The environment is beyond all control, no one person can change that yet alone a group of people either. Normative beliefs aren't going to change and these factors can influence juvenile delinquency with hardly anything to do to change that.

Response to prompt of 12/2

Unfortunately most of the factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency are beyond easy control or regulation.  One would hope that educating parents and providing a better model for them to follow would be sufficient but that is clearly not the case.  Many parents provide little to no care or attention to their children and I believe it is beyond our ability to educate those parents.  The neglectful parents are unlikely to change their ways based upon someone else's opinion.  So for the most part parents aren't going to be influenced by education or infomercials.

Peer factors are even more difficult to enhance or control and I'm not even going to offer an idea on how that could be affected.  Peer interactions are quite simply beyond me.

I think there is possibly some hope for the individual factors.  We can certainly offer remedial classes or more education if the student is struggling with low verbal intelligence.  Low attention can be addressed through counseling or, in extreme cases, medication.  Low self control is a little more ticklish to address but, here's the tough part, with a quality home life and support from the parents that's addressable as well.  However see my remarks above about below average parenting.

Low SES falls into the same category as parents in my opinion.  The parents themselves have to bootstrap themselves up into a higher SES.  No government handout program is going to take care of that issue.  In the end I don't have the answers to juvenile delinquency.  There are many many factors that influence delinquency and the approach to each individual must be tailored to their needs.  A massive undertaking for each individual begs the question of whether or not it is worth it...

New Technology

We seem to skip all of the warnings and hazards that are included with new computers and electronics, such as phones! When I bought my computer last year, I received more information regarding the dangers of placing the lap top on my lap or legs than helpful directions on how to use it. Our society seems to avoid any responsibility we may have caused or may be causing to our environment and global status. We use electric in every room, appliances, and drive cars daily while tricking ourselves into believing the damage caused is minimal, or it does not have any immediate effects on our or our children's lives.

Why it is that research indicating a need for change goes unnoticed, or swept under the carpet, while new and exciting equipment takes the lead roll, regardless of the damage it may cause? My daughter is furious with me because I refuse to let her have an I-phone. The reason is because of the electro-magnetic stress they create around them. Even if the phone is turned off and not being used, it can create holes in any person's aura within so many feet of it. These holes are what leads to sickness and or various ailments on multiple levels.

In 1930, synthetic medicines were introduced promising to put an end to all sickness. Obviously that was wrong. Forty years ago, we had terminal illnesses but had never heard of chronic conditions. Now we are constantly told about new ailments that may be mental, physical, or emotional forms of chronic illness.

I could go on and on about this subject but I do not have the time nor patience to explain to everyone that has no clue what I am talking about. If we want a society worth having for our children and our children's children, someone will have to take a stand to educate the people on a moral level versus the ignorance we are accustomed to.

How do we know that the technologies we are now using are safe and effective forms for making life easier?

responce prompt 24

There seems to be a definite connection between the increasing development of technology and the raising rates of people believing they are important.  As for my opinion I believe the new technology advantages, that young people have access to, have affected these results greatly.  I do believe that it is a good thing that people believe in some little way that they are an important person, especially in the teen years of there life. The ego boost that one receives from someone commenting on a blog you post about a little non-significant event they have done can play a major role in how self-worthy that person feels.  Yet when the harsh reality comes around that they are no different from everyone else and there everyday situations are not that big of a deal they are going to have a very big let down.  But with the technology now days you can keep these feelings of significance to your everyday life going. 

Prompt for 12/2

 The above is a "potato" view of the studied factors that developmental psychologists and criminologists believe influence an individual's risk of juvenile delinquency.  For this post, talk about which of the above you think are the most changeable/controllable: the factors that you think we should focus our attention, time and resources.  Lastly, identify one or more factors that you think we should not focus on, not because they are unimportant, but because we may not be able to change them.