Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:02 pm
Time: 10:02 pm
Results for parents (scotland)
2 results foundAuthor: Smith, David Title: Parenting and Delinquency at Ages 12 to 15 Summary: Many current policy initiatives, both in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, aim to reduce youth crime by targeting parents. These initiatives are based on the assumption that styles of parenting have an important influence on adolescent behaviour. In broad terms, that assumption is backed up by a great weight of evidence from social science research. The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between parenting and youth crime in more detail, and thus to support a closer analysis of the kinds of policy that are likely to be successful in this field. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (The Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. Information about parenting and family functioning was obtained at each sweep from the young people themselves. In addition, a survey of one parent (the main care-giver) of each cohort member was carried out in the autumn of 2001, concurrently with sweep 4. Detailed and parallel measures of parenting and family functioning were included in the survey of parents and in the sweep 4 questionnaires completed by their children at about the same time. The study therefore provides a balanced picture of the parent/child rela-tionship as seen by both sides. The key findings of this report are as follows: Styles of parenting are closely related to crime and antisocial behaviour in teenagers. Aspects of parenting and family functioning when children were aged 13 were good pre-dictors of juvenile delinquency two years later, when they were aged 15. This demon-strates that parenting had a genuine causal influence on the later behaviour of teenagers. When young people were aged 15, seven distinct dimensions of parenting and family functioning were independently related to levels of delinquency. The most important fac-tors were parents tracking and monitoring behaviour, the child’s willingness to disclose information, parental consistency, and avoiding parent/child conflict and excessive pun-ishment. The findings fit with a social learning theory of effective parenting and child develop-ment. The key idea is that children will repeat patterns of behaviour that reward them in the short term. Parents should ensure that only acceptable behaviour is rewarded. Parenting and family functioning are influenced by the social context. Parents with poor resources and in deprived neighbourhoods find it more difficult to be effective. The findings highlight programmes for improving parenting skills as a possible means of reducing crime, but there are limits to what the state can do to encourage better parenting and it is particularly difficult to help those who are most in need. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2004. 24p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transistions and Crime, Report No. 3: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest3.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest3.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Parents (Scotland) |
Author: McVie, Susan Title: Family Functioning and Substance Use at Ages 12 to 17 Summary: This paper explores the relationship between family functioning and substance use among young people aged 12 to 17. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single age cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. Between the ages of 12 and 17, prevalence of smoking, drinking and illicit drug use increased continuously amongst cohort members. From age 13 onwards, girls were more likely to smoke weekly than boys, although there was little or no gender difference in terms of weekly drinking or drug use in the last year. Family characteristics and parenting styles were found to play a significant role in the substance using behaviour of young people. There was evidence of a causal link between these factors, since family related factors at age 15 predicted substance use at age 17. Excessive drinking and involvement in drug use amongst parents strongly predicted young people’s involvement in smoking and drug use. Parents’ drinking and drug use was not related to their children’s drinking. The difference may arise because smoking and drug use are considered deviant, whereas drinking is more widely accepted. Five dimensions of parenting consistently predicted involvement in smoking, drinking and drug use. Ineffective parenting methods were characterised by high levels of parent/ child conflict, poor parental monitoring and lack of leisure time spent doing activities together. Substance using children were likely to conceal information about their social activities from their parents, although they were more likely to report engaging in positive forms of conflict resolution. There were important demographic differences between smokers and other substance users which have policy implications for prevention strategies. Smokers were more likely to be female and from less affluent backgrounds, whereas drinkers and drug users (at age 17) were likely to be from more affluent backgrounds. These findings are broadly supportive of social learning theory and indicate the need to provide information on methods of parenting which may be more effective in tackling various forms of problematic behaviour, including substance use. Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2005. 35p. Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 9: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest9.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest9.pdf Shelf Number: 102905 Keywords: Family Relationships (Scotland)Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)Parents (Scotland)Substance Abuse (Scotland) |