Compounded Risk: The Implications for Delinquency of Coming from a Poor Family that Lives in a Poor Community

The relationship between poverty and juvenile involvement in delinquency remains central to the study of adolescent development, but firm conclusions on this relationship have been elusive. The purpose of this study is to address an important limitation of prior research that often has been overlooked. This involves the standard practice of examining the poverty-delinquency relationship with an exclusive focus on the family's level of poverty. This study considers that the effects of family poverty on delinquency may significantly depend upon the level of poverty in the community in which the family lives. Specifically, drawing from a number of poverty-oriented theories of delinquency, we examine the hypothesis that community poverty amplifies the effects of family poverty, such that family poverty's effect becomes greater when community poverty also is high. Using data from a national sample of adolescents that are supplemented with U.S. census data, we find partial support for the idea that family poverty is consequential for delinquency, and that this is especially true for poor families that also live in poor communities.

Cheryl L. Sisk and Russell D. Romeo: Coming of Age: The Neurobiology and Psychobiology of Puberty and Adolescence New York,NY: Oxford University Press. 2020, 202 pp,ISBN-13: 978-0195314373

Journal of Youth and Adolescence -     

Television in Indian Adolescents' Lives: A Member of the Family

To understand the effects of TV on youth, it is important to know the context in which they view it. This paper reports findings from an Experience Sampling study of 100 urban, middle-class Indian families to elucidate the context of use for this group. Mothers, fathers, and 8th graders carried alarm watches for 1 week and provided 13,674 reports on their activities and subjective states at random times across waking hours when signalled. TV viewing occupied 10.9% of these adolescents' time (about 12 h per week). Ninety percent of this viewing occurred at home, with majority of it, 73%, done with other family members, including 7% with grandparents, uncles, or aunts. This indicates that TV viewing for these youth is typically a family activity, occurring in a context in which parents' supervision and influence is likely. Adolescents' rates of viewing were correlated with mothers' rates of viewing, with rates for both higher when mothers were unemployed. Adolescents' TV rates were also correlated with fathers' rates and with fathers' type of employment. During TV viewing, adolescents reported lower than average challenge, worry, and paying attention, and higher than average choice, calm, and relaxation. As a whole, the findings indicate that the TV viewing of middle-class Indian youth is typically a relaxed antidote to the stresses of the day that they share with their families.     

Prosocial Behavior and Aggression in the Daily School Lives of Early Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Research has not adequately addressed a possible mutual co-regulatory influence of prosocial and aggressive behaviors in adolescents’ daily lives. This...