Discuss how family effectiveness impacts delinquency. In your response, provide commentary on supervision, communication, employment and resource dilution

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Children raised by parents who lack proper parenting skills are more at risk for delinquency than those whose parents who are supportive and effectively control their children in a noncoercive fashion (parental efficacy).

Inconsistent Supervision
Evidence also exists that inconsistent supervision can promote delinquency. Early research by F. Ivan Nye found that mothers who threatened discipline, but failed to carry it out were more likely to have delinquent children than those who were consistent in their discipline.
Nye's early efforts have been supported by research showing a strong association between ineffective or negligent supervision and a child's involvement in delinquency.

Poor Communications
Poor child–parent communications have been related to dysfunctional activities such as running away, and in all too many instances these children enter the ranks of homeless street youths who get involved in theft and prostitution to survive. In contrast, even children who appear to be at risk are better able to resist involvement in delinquent activity when they report that they can communicate with their parents.

Mother's Employment
Parents who closely supervise their children and have close ties with them help reduce the likelihood of adolescent delinquent behavior. Some critics have suggested that even in intact homes, a working mother who is unable to adequately supervise her children provides the opportunity for delinquency. The association between mother's employment and delinquency is far from certain. There is some evidence that the children of working moms are more prone to delinquency, the issue is far from settled.

Resource Dilution
The more children in a family, the greater the chance of youthful misbehavior. Large families find that their resources are spread too thin. Parents have less time to help kids with their schoolwork; resource dilution has been linked to educational underachievement, long considered a correlate of delinquency. Middle children may suffer the most from resource dilution because by definition they are most likely to live in larger families.