Monday, 26 May 2014

DEVELOPMENT AND RISK FACTORS OF JUVENILE ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND DELINQUENCY

People particularly adolescents have repeatedly behaved in ways that are perceived or potentially disruptive or social expectations or processes. The behavior may injure someone; deprive another of his or her property; offend the moral values of group of people, perhaps outrageously; or be of a type that is presumed to be indicative of future, more severe problems. In the attempt to control such behaviors, small, informal groups have rules, larger more formal organizations have rules and regulations.

The prevalence of antisocial and delinquent behavior in juveniles has increased dramatically over the past 2 decades, along with the prevalence of other health-endangering behaviors, such as substance use and suicide.

These trends have been accompanied by increased levels of psychiatric admissions and special classroom placements in schools. It is posed that these changes reflect decreased levels of impulse control by adolescents living in our societies. This article focuses on impulse control as it relates to antisocial and delinquent behavior in juveniles. It traces the development of these adolescents through antisocial behavioral manifestations, and summarizes known social and biological risk factors in their immediate environment which examines how different risk factors impinge on the development of antisocial behavior at different points in the life cycle.

Conclusively, the interaction between developmental tasks and the emergence of antisocial behavior is considered critical, “sensitive” periods in development often intersect with the increased prevalence of risk factors at certain age periods of adolescents, leading to the emergence or aggravation of antisocial behavior.


By Dorathy D. Kantiyok

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