The Relationship Between How a Child Was Raised And The Likelihood They Will Engage In a Lifestyle of Crime
Open Access
- Author:
- Townsend, Dayna
- Area of Honors:
- Criminology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Jeremy Staff, Thesis Supervisor
Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- parenting styles
self-control
crime
children - Abstract:
- What allows a person to make the ultimate decision to engage in a lifestyle of crime? Themselves or how they grew up? This thesis examines the relationship between the parenting styles a child was exposed to, that influence on their levels of self-control, and if that can affect the likelihood of their engagement in crime and deviant behavior. Prior research suggests that there are four kinds of parenting styles an individual can be exposed to and those include: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Uninvolved/Neglectful. Authoritarian parenting demonstrates high levels of discipline and low levels of attachment. Authoritative parenting demonstrates high levels of both discipline and attachment. Permissive parenting demonstrates high levels of attachment and low levels of discipline and Uninvolved/Neglectful Parenting demonstrates low levels of discipline and attachment. This present study used data from The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), which is a longitudinal and nationally representative study in the UK, to examine associations between parenting style, self-control, and juvenile delinquency. The results suggest: (1) poor practices of parenting styles, including a lack in care, closeness, and discipline, increases the likelihood of a child having low levels of self-control; (2) having low levels of self-control increases the likelihood of a child engaging in crime and deviant behavior; (3) parenting styles that only focus on discipline but no love and care increases the likelihood of a child engaging in violent crime; (4) poor parenting styles such as a lack in care, closeness, and discipline increases the likelihood of a child engaging in deviant behavior and crime. This thesis furthers research in the potential pathways to crime in order to help society try to find potential risk factors and eliminate the increased rates of criminal activity.