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Understanding & Preventing Teenage Delinquency
by David Cimbora, Ph.D.
K atie was reserved and shy as a child in elementary school. In spite of her quiet temperament she received good grades and was able to develop several friendships. When she experienced typical problems for her age like arguments with her sister, loneliness over her parents' divorce, and the alienation of moving to a different state, she seemed to handle them well.
However, as Katie grew older her anger became increasingly difficult for her parents to manage. She argued constantly with her mother and stepfather, became generally aggressive, and her hostility toward her sister escalated into physical fights. To make matters worse, she began "hanging out" with a "tough" crowd. By the time Katie was in high school, she was running away from home, often truant from school, and shoplifting expensive merchandise, which ultimately led to her arrest and being placed on probation.
No consequence seemed enough to stop the rebellion. Finally, Katie left home and ultimately, the state. Unable to support herself in a new city, she began to prostitute herself at the age of sixteen. Eventually Katie was apprehended by the police, and is now serving time in a juvenile detention facility.
Lucas's handsome appearance and gregarious personality charmed many a teacher and peer during his first two years at a suburban high school. Athletically built and intellectually gifted, Lucas seemingly had the "tools" to succeed both academically and socially. He was a leader; many of his peers looked up to him, followed him, and even revered him. But most of those who revered him eventually ended up fearing him.
By the age of fourteen, Lucas had begun a secret side life of small petty crimes—a stolen pack of cigarettes, a push or shove against someone who displeased him. Before long his crimes became more frequent and more serious. Most of his friends, and certainly his family, did not know this secret side of Lucas' life. Soon his "extracurricular" activities included charges of assault, theft, robbery, and statutory rape. Through manipulation, outright lying, and various plea bargains, Lucas initially managed to avoid jail time. That is, until he murdered a girl from his high school, for which he is now serving a 42-year sentence in maximum security.
 Fortunately, we don't have to wait
for tragedy to blindside us and
strike our families before we act.
Katie and Lucas represent a growing number of teenagers who exhibit severe delinquent behavior. Yet while teenage violence and delinquency is a major sign of our age, few of us think it will touch our families. After all, we think, delinquent adolescents come from abusive backgrounds. Or, these young people must have received little or no support or care from their parents. That is often true, but not always.
Katie and Lucas came from relatively stable, financially secure and well-intentioned families. Their parents thought they had every reason to believe their children would become productive members of society. Now they grieve and wonder what went wrong.
Fortunately, we don't have to wait for tragedy to blindside us and strike our families before we act. There are seven main factors that predispose children toward various types of antisocial behavior. And there are steps we can take to minimize their risk of delinquency and to put our children on the road to health and productive lives. But before we look at these causes and preventive steps, let's take a look at just what we mean by teenage delinquency.
Defining Delinquency
Delinquent behavior is actually a legal term referring to acts committed by children or adolescents which are in violation of law. This legal definition is so broad however, that if we used it, most teenagers would be described as delinquent at one time or another, even if it was for breaking a municipal curfew or consuming a small amount of alcohol. So, to communicate more meaningfully, the mental health community has developed a psychiatric diagnosis called Conduct Disorder (CD).
Conduct Disorder applies to individuals—typically adolescents— who consistently act in ways that violate the rights of others' or society's rules. This includes physical aggression and intimidation, destruction of property, deceitfulness, forced sexual activity, theft, truancy, and running away from home. To qualify for a diagnosis of Conduct Disorder, teenagers must show a repetitive and persistent pattern of these behaviors as opposed to isolated incidents of inappropriate behavior.
Conduct-disordered adolescents
tend to ... blame everyone else
for their problems while they
rationalize their own behavior.
It is estimated that six to sixteen percent of teenage males and about half that many teenage females qualify for a diagnosis of Conduct Disorder. These teenagers disappoint, aggravate, and frustrate parents, teachers, and other authority figures with their persistent destructive, deceitful, manipulative and/or illegal activities.
Unfortunately, counseling—even Christian counseling—is not always as successful as we would hope. That is because conduct-disordered adolescents tend to resist treatment. They tend to blame everyone else for their problems while they rationalize their own behavior. They are not especially self-observant. They are typically manipulative. And they have difficulty forming meaningful attachments with their counselors. Even when they appear to be cooperating with a counselor or authority figure, they often have no true intent to change. Consequently, many of these youths end up in our legal system, either on probation with legal restrictions, or in detention centers or correctional facilities.
What Causes Conduct Disorder?
The central feature of Conduct Disorder—violating the rights of others and the rules of society—is not a new phenomenon to the human race. It goes back as early as the Garden of Eden when God set up a rule for Adam and Eve: "Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Yet Adam and Eve disobeyed. To top it off, they failed to take responsibility, blaming each other and Satan. In time, their son Cain took their disobedience even further. He violated his brother's right to life by murdering him. Then he denied his responsibility by asking, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Personal and Social Sins
Such violations unfold throughout the bible, and not surprisingly, they still take place today. The ultimate root of these problems lies in the sinfulness of the human race. All human beings, and particularly teenagers, struggle to some degree with the tendency to be selfish, rebellious and insensitive to others. Teenagers who lack a serious personal spiritual commitment are more likely to give in to their selfish and self-centered desires and act in irresponsible ways.
 Continued on Page Two
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