Introduction
Juvenile delinquency is a growing problem and has become an issue of concern in the United States especially among parents. An example of the most common juvenile delinquency widely practiced include bullying in high schools. A Girl Like Her is a movie fictional documentary showing the bullying among teenagers in the modern day and the effects it can cause. For instance, it can push the victim into committing suicide as a way out of the misery. Jessica Burns, a 15 year student at South Brookdale High School attempted suicide because of bullying from one of her friend, Avery (Kaste, 2017).
Explaining Avery and Jessica’s Behavior using Research on Gender-Differences in Cognitive Styles
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Avery and Jessica’s behavior can in part be explained by differences in cognitive styles. Research on gender-difference in cognitive style shows that cognitive style is a strong variable in the choices and preferences among individuals especially teenagers and how they interact with each other at school. From evidence accumulated from the research, certain cognitive style affect females differently and are influenced by personal characteristics. Cognitive abilities include executive functions, language, perception, memory, attention, and visual processing.
Avery was a bully and a mean girl towards Jessica. Avery friendship with Jessica was not positive. She did not behave the same when she was around Jessica. Jessica states that Avery was always harassing and bullying her not only at school but also through the phone. She sent her texts messages calling her nasty names such as “whore” or “stupid bitch” among other things. She could tell Jessica she is not loved by anybody and that she should die. In this case, Avery used self-focused cognition style as a way of solving her problem or show hate towards Jessica. Her impulsivity style and violence beliefs can explain her delinquency behavior. As a popular girl in school, she felt the pressure and thus the influence of the need to be in control and gain approval from others contributed to her delinquent behavior.
Jessica on the hand was guided by the position attributed to her by Avery and her peer group. She was selectively attentive to her environment and used Avery verbal and physical harassment to define her feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and self-view. Jessica could not deal with Avery’s constant bullying and decided to take her own life. This is an indication that her perception was strongly dominated by the surrounding. The bullying influenced her thinking and problem solving behavior leading to her attempting suicide as a way of addressing the problem.
Aspects of Avery Life Exemplifying the Causes of Girl’s Delinquency
Avery lived her life as a popular girl at school surrounding herself with a set of few friends. Her mean peers and family dynamics such as parental practices can be said to have influenced Avery’s delinquency. For instance, while she was harassing and bullying Jessica, none of her friends stopped her but rather encouraged her. They could cheer her and laugh off as she verbally and physically harassed Jessica. According to Henneberger, Tolan, Hipwell and Keenan (2014) , Juvenile Delinquency is facilitated or worsened by peer pressure from friends. Teenagers perceive relationships to very important than others and thus tend to listen to their friends more and this causes them to find themselves in compromising situations. Avery wanted to fulfill her desire of being accepted as a popular girl in school and this turned her into a bully.
Also, in her family, she did not have anyone to talk to. She says that her parents only cared about shopping but never really tried to create a meaningful bond with her. She felt disconnected from her parents and sibling. Avery’s parents were always in constant fights. In this case, it seemed her mother was bullying her father. She was constantly arguing with and insulting Avery’s dad in front of her children and did not show any form of respect to him. This behavior cold have contributed significantly towards Avery becoming a bully. Henneberger, Tolan, Hipwell and Keenan (2014) points out that family factors such as complexities in parent/child interactions and family stress such as conflicts between parents can lead to delinquency behavior. Family challenges can make a teen turn into activities such as violence and are less likely to understand the consequences of their actions.
Factors that Help Protect the Delinquency against Girls
Research provides a number of factors that help protect the factors of delinquency against girls. These include educational focus, relational approach, empowerment-control and confidence. Although Avery was considered a popular girl, she missed protective factors in her life. The protective factors that were missing in her life include relational approach. In most cases, different girls experience various problems, which can be traced to poor relationships in family or peers. Some feel violations or disconnections in these relationships. Relational approach helps girls to develop healthy on positive interpersonal relationships.
What More Could Jessica’s Friend, Brian have Done
Jessica’s friend feels guilty for Jessica’s suicide attempt. Brian feels he could have done something more but he did not. After learning about Jessica’s bullying, Brian gave Jessica a camera to record the harassment and bullying done to her by Avery. He even advises her to talk to someone about the issue but Jessica refused. Jessica’s asks him to promise her not to tell anyone about the bullying. After Jessica’s suicide attempt, the guilt becomes overwhelming and Brian breaks down and decides to break the promise he made to Jessica. He provides the evidence of Jessica’s recording showing how Avery used to harass Jessica. Brain could have done more by reporting the incident to the teachers at school, talked to a counselor, or talked to Jessica’s parents about it to help Jessica.
The school could have done a follow up to determine the causes of change in Jessica’s behavior after noticing changes in her. The teachers have knowledge that teenagers tease and say mean things to each other and not do anything. Also, they could have promoted awareness to school about the effects of bullying. Moreover, they should put in place policies that would help to minimize bullying. Furthermore, they should find a method of reaching out to bullies to determine their mental issues that is driving them into becoming bullies. According to Henneberger, Tolan, Hipwell and Keenan (2014) , delinquency behavior is an acquired one. It takes place within intimate personal groups who are more influential because it is what a child sees every day as they grow up. If people around a child have negative influences, then they are more likely to become delinquency.
References
Henneberger, A. K., Tolan, P. H., Hipwell, A. E., & Keenan, K. (2014). Delinquency in adolescent girls: Using a confluence approach to understand the influences of parents and peers. Criminal justice and behavior , 41 (11), 1327-1337.
Kasten, D. (2017). A Girl Like Her. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofdR0F_Qvig
