Juvenile delinquency is a global problem that requires effective intervention programs to contain the menace. In order to understand the roots of children’s delinquent behaviors psychodynamic and social learning theories can be applied. Creating cohesive and stable families with strong behavior management systems and risk-focused delinquency prevention intervention through community policing are desirable approaches envisioned by the psychodynamic and social learning theory to mitigate juvenile delinquency.
Psychodynamic theory and Social Learning theory
Psychodynamic Theory
In the understanding of the juvenile delinquency, the psychodynamic theory posits that the personality of children is highly influenced by an unconscious mental process they developed during their early stages. The developed mental processes are known to affect one’s behavior, involving juvenile delinquency. Sigmund Freud (1925) authored this theory. Sigmund’s psychodynamic theory hypothesizes that the individual personality comprises three main parts, including the superego, ego, and id. The individual id is known to exist at birth and comprises motives, instinctual desires, unreasoning, and blind (Akers, 2009). The id symbolizes basic psychological as well as biological drives, but it fails to provide the distinction between reality and fantasy. Moreover, the id tends to be antisocial and holds no consideration to limitations, boundaries, or rules. Failure to check the id will ultimately destroy the individual and probably become a deviant.
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The ego develops from the id, and it depicts the dimension of problem-solving of one’s personality. It focuses on reality and discerns it from fantasy. The ego teaches young children to exercise some delay on gratification since reacting on impulse may eventually lead them to some trouble.
Freud also theorized that the superego grows from the individual’s ego, but it is perceived to be moral code, values, and norms that children have acquired in the course of their development. The superego deals with the feeling of shame as well as guilt. It is also in a close alignment with consciousness.
In children who are mentally healthy, the three components of personality, which are the ego, superego, and id, often function together. If these parts assume to conflict with one another, young children can be maladjusted as they grow up and hence become ready to engulf in delinquency. Even though Freud never wrote specifically on the problem of delinquency, the author’s ideas based on the psychodynamic theory significantly influenced most criminologists who borrowed the arguments to apply them while studying the problem of crime, particularly the deviance among the youth and young children. The significance of Feud’s psychodynamic theory is profound in the manner in which experiences of early childhood, as well as their mental process, do feature dominantly in most studies on human behavior.
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory provides a significant theoretical foundation. The advantage of this theory is evident in criminology, sociology, and psychology. The theoretical premise is also crucial in the development of prevention programs and hence can be applied in formulating effective approaches to contain juvenile delinquency.
Burgess and Akers (1966) to provide differential relations reinforcement initially coined social learning theory. They were trying to integrate Sutherland (1947) differential relations theory to the existing principles of behavioral psychology. The researcher Sutherland (1947) focused on developing a theory about a white-collar crime that needed a theory that was quite distinct to the majority of the prevailing assumptions regarding the individual-level disorders of criminals as well as lower-class citizens. Further, the theory was formulated based on crime, just as any behavior that is learned through the differential correlation.
Sutherland (1947) suggested nine points demonstrate the theory of differential association. Firstly, criminal behavior is something that is learned over time. Secondly, criminal behavior is something learned and in relationships with other individuals through a communication process. Thirdly, the principal component of learning criminal behavior happens in the intimate individual groups. Fourthly, when learning criminal behavior, the task comprises strategies for committing a crime, and this may be complicated or simple, depending on the prevailing circumstances. The learning entails the specific drives as well as motives, attitudes, and rationalization.
Fifth, the particular direction of drives as well as motives are often learning from various definitions enshrined in the legal codes, and this can be unfavorable or favorable. Sixth, an individual assumes delinquency since the excessive definitions tend to favor the violation of the legal rules over the definitions, which defy the violation of the prevailing laws. Seventh, the differential link may tend to vary in terms of intensity, priority, time, and frequency. Eighth, the procedure of learning criminal behavior by forming linkages with criminal as well as anti-criminal patterns comprises every mechanism applied in other forms of learning. Finally, criminal behavior is perceived to an expression regarding values and general needs, but it is never demonstrated by holistic values as well as general needs since noncriminal behavior forms the expression of the same values and needs. Nevertheless, Sutherland’s (1947) theoretical assumption fails to demonstrate the process involved in learning behavior.
Albert Bandura (1977) posits that learning, as well as experiences, add to the expectations and values to influence behavior. The author views these elements as the deterministic factors that guide a person’s behavior. In social learning theory, Bandura (1977) asserts that children learn through imitating those around them and by modeling. For example, children learn aggressive behavior by watching what their peers or seniors do, for instance, watching their parents fight, seeing their family members engaged in fierce verbal exchanges, watching their peers fight and insult each other, and viewing violent movies on television screens.
Violent and vulgar music that children listen to can be a major contributing factor to the violent behaviors. If the children are not restrained or their exposure limited to such violent acts, they are likely to develop into unruly individuals. The children may fail to see such exposures as destruction since they tend to perceive the sorts of violence they observe and listen to as acceptable behavior deemed to produce some desirable outcomes. Hence, the ideas that Bandura (1977) advances in the social learning theory can be applied in studying delinquency among children, with the aim of looking for finding an effective remedy to contain the menace.
Psychodynamic Theory and Intervention Program to Contain Juvenile Delinquency
The psychodynamic theory asserts that the id tends to be antisocial and disregards the existing rules, and hence there is need to check the id, otherwise the child risk becoming a deviant. In this regard, a strong institution of a cohesive family is required to play a crucial role in preventing the occurrence of deviant behavior among children (Akers, 2009). The check of the id can be successful by creating a cohesive family where everyone has defined responsibility regarding monitoring the behavior of a child.
The family is regarded as one of the key social institutions that have important functions in relation to the development of children. For example, the transmission of values, morals, religious beliefs, and culture. According to Akers (2009), most studies have been assigned to the family as a determinant of delinquency than other factors. The claim is significant because of the vital importance of the family, which can be termed as the cradle of an individual’s personality. Basic response patterns of feeling and thinking, values, and norms that emphasize a permanent, continuous effect on a person’s future life history are established during the early years of a person in the family.
The family is viewed as the foundation of community and problems influencing a healthy family environment can render their children vulnerable to the risk of developing delinquency. During adolescence stage, family environment tends to be strongly linked to the engagement with a delinquent peer group (Howell, 2003). The analysis of the association between delinquent friends and deviant behavior supports that parental attachment can cushion their children from the effect of delinquent friends. The adolescence stage is a risky one that parents need to teach their children to discern reality from fantasy and advice the adolescents to delay gratification by simply refusing impulses that may land them into the risk of contracting delinquent behaviors. Moreover, parents should always teach their children to acquire morals codes, values, and norms as they grow up. The acquisition of such virtues is imperative because it will always remind children to remain conscious and develop a feeling of shame and guilt as they go about their daily endeavors.
The majority of the family problems that can affect the behavior of young people are highly linked to the inadequate parental supervision, parental criminality, separation or divorce of parents, family conflicts, poverty, and physical or verbal abuse. Children will eventually succumb to delinquency if they experience a lack of support and love, abuse and violence, and insufficient skills on behavior management (Howell, 2003). The remedy to mitigate this deficiency can be obtained by institution a strong institution of a cohesive family where everyone has a specified role to promote a productive and desirable behavior within a child.
Parental bonding and emotional support are crucial in protecting young children and adolescents from engaging in or exhibiting antisocial behavior. Children who tend to bond poorly with their parents or those who experience a lack of emotional support tend to become deviants. Adolescents who live in disintegrated and unstable families are highly exposed to the risk of engaging in delinquency and embracing the use of drugs and substance abuse compared to their peers who live in stable families (Akers, 2009). Therefore, a cohesive and stable family plays a significant role in maintaining a positive behavior among children.
Social Learning Theory and Intervention Program to Contain Juvenile Delinquency
Social learning theory asserts that children learn delinquent behaviors by imitating and modeling as they interact and communicate with others, including peers and family members. Parents who engage in violence are bad role models their children since their children will finally copy what their seniors do. For example, fighting within the homes should be reported to the police authority (Howell, 2003). Once the arrest has been done, the kids will realize that fighting is not a desirable behavior and must be avoided. It will also act as a warning that physical or verbal abuse is not desirable and highly punitive. Children will grow up knowing that if they engage in physical or verbal violence they stand to pay the price through punishment. The approach will act as a deterrent mechanism to stop young people from engaging in deviant behaviors.
Community policing is also a desirable risk-focused delinquency prevention intervention among children. The involvement of community policing incorporates the need to familiarize with all the members in the immediate neighborhoods and to understand their behaviors and characters. The approach will engage the neighbors in assessing the potential risk factors for promoting offenses and implement appropriate prevention methods to mitigate their transmission to children (Akers, 2009). The risk-focused prevention through the community-policing program extends to focus communities, schools, families, and individuals. The rationale for the choice of this approach to prevent delinquency among young people is that most crimes or deviants behaviors among the youth are because of modeling and imitation of others. Besides, children, especially the adolescents, are at a transition stage that renders them vulnerable to copying deviant behaviors and criminal activities of their peers and seniors.
Conclusion
Preventing juvenile delinquency can be understood through the psychodynamic theory and social learning theory. Psychodynamic theory explores the three components of personality such as id, ego, as well as superego ego to understand how they influence once behavior. For example, parents have to play a significant role to observe their children id to avoid engaging in antisocial behaviors that contravene the existing rules. Social learning theory demands the creation of a stable and cohesive family institution where parents put proper structures for behavior management systems and the establishment of risk-focused delinquency prevention intervention through community policing to prevent their children from modeling and imitating delinquent behaviors.
References
Akers, R. L. (2009). Social learning and social structure: A general theory of crime and deviance. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
Burgess, R. L., & Akers, R. L. (1966). A differential association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior. Social Problems , 14, 128–147.
Freud, S. (1925). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud . London: Hogarth Press.
Howell, J. C. (2003). Diffusing research into practice using the comprehensive strategy for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice , 1, 219–245.
Sutherland, E. H. (1947). Principles of criminology (4th Ed.). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.
