Every community possesses its own set of certain social rules and ethics that the members belonging, are expected to obey and follow. This is extremely necessary so as to prevent any kind of social disorganisation and maintain a basic level of harmony. However, there are certain scenarios where individuals deviate from the codes of conduct and societal norms as a result of many environmental and psychological influences. Over the years, delinquent actions that portray traits of aggressiveness, misconduct and antisocial nature has been an interesting area of research for many psychologists. The dark mind behind delinquent behaviour is due to some specific difficult condition of the delinquent’s mental health which can involve several psychosocial as well as personality factors.
Decades have passed since society has attempted to monitor the innumerable instances that highlight the various psychological causes of delinquency. One such phenomenon explained was through the psychoanalytic theories by Freud which propounds that it is the unresolved instincts and drives within an individual’s psyche that pushes him or her to show signs of social irresponsibility and lack of guilt associated with deviant behavioural responses. It was also hypothesised that it is in fact the action of superego which played a role in delinquency. This theory claimed that it was due to the inability to control early childhood urges by the defective super-ego that causes the youth to deviate. (Schoenfeld,1975). This theory eventually took shape as one of the most prominent psychiatric theories of delinquency known as the “superego lacunae” theory. It posits that delinquent children have gaps or lacunae in their superego and become scapegoats in families where parents project their own difficulties onto them, receiving vicarious pleasure from the delinquent acts of the child.
There have also been a few individual factors that have been emphasized that include the traits like sensation-seeking and impulsivity. (Peach and Gaultney,2013; Mann et al.,2015,2017). These traits predispose a person to commit socially unacceptable actions as a result of their uncontrolled impulses. Another theory, the Big Five personality model has drawn attention towards the observations made which notes that individuals with antisocial behaviour tend to have higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness. It was also researched and examined that adolescents with antisocial behaviour are prone to lower levels of openness to experience and higher levels of extraversion. (Rushton and Chrisjohn,1981). There are contributing factors like substance abuse which is shown to have a massive negative influence on youth with tendencies towards societal disobedience. Since misuse of substances can easily deteriorate skills like thinking, decision making and judgement, both drugs and alcohol seem to play a significant role in blurring the boundary of right and wrong even more. A personal trait of intelligence has also been shown to be related to acts of delinquency. There was a negative correlation between intelligence and delinquent behaviour.
Apart from general personality factors and specific individual traits, there are also several social and contextual causes that play a role in the deviant’s mental state. Family life is a well-known factor as broken homes or sudden deaths can hamper a child’s sense of security. The family separation provokes high-intensity conflicts which are either active or passive in nature and can deprive the children of love, care and necessary emotional support. The inadequate parental rearing styles can also lead to higher levels of peer delinquency and community disorganisation such as excessive permissiveness and lack of child supervision. Economic causes like unemployment and poverty can intensely diminish one’s standard of living and in turn give rise to high levels of frustration, aggression and an attitude of social carelessness. Lack of education also acts as an evil source of delinquent behaviour as academic skills develop one’s knowledge of morality, sense of social responsibility, disciplinary skills and also build self-esteem. Last but not the least, extreme bullying by peers can act as a cause of deviant behaviour in children as psychological torture can disrupt one’s social functionality, sense of empathy and also make one severely isolated.
Individuals who have or are on the verge to deviate can be rehabilitated in hopes of improving their psychological strength and stability. They are trained in a way that fosters their social skills and expands their moral understanding. Different therapeutic interventions can also lower their aggressiveness, improve their sense of self-worth and control their unhealthy impulses. Healthy coping mechanisms can be taught to them along with providing education that benefits their overall personality. Community support along with legal help in the form of reform homes are also executed for youth involved in cases of delinquency.
Hence, it can be said that there is no one sole cause behind an individual’s deviant behaviour and that these behaviours can be resolved after proper analysis of particular underlying issues. The multiple difficult emotional conditions that are created in a socially stressful situation can sometimes destroy a person’s moral codes of conduct. This usually involves a series of repetitive negative circumstances that takes place as a gradual process and drive a person into the dark web of delinquency.
– Urveez Kakalia & Debanjana Banerjee.