Pittsburgh Youth Study Essay

According to the Pittsburgh Youth Study conducted by Katharine Browning, Ph.D., and Rolf Loeber, Ph.D., it was found that there argon multiple factors that are connected with youth delinquency. The objective of the accept was to order the factors in delinquency involvement and other related behaviors (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Those involved in the study consisted of three groups of boys, and they were observed within the duration of almost ten long time (Browning & Loeber, 1999). The study group included a random selection of first, fourth and seventh graders. To begin with, Browning and Loeber (1999) found that African-American boys were more prone to teen delinquency than their Caucasian counterparts. It was also discovered that as widespread delinquency increased, so did the frequency. Again, the percentage for African-American boys were higher than Caucasian ones. Moreover, the study showed that delinquent behaviors followed a certain pattern what began as a less serious beha vior eventually progressed to a more serious one (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Browning and Loeber (1999) listed three pathways which categorise the offenses, all of which displayed the shift from a less serious offense like lying to a more serious act like property harm or fighting. More importantly, the study determined two factors that causes juvenile offense. The first one was innate forces, internal factors such as intelligent quotient (IQ) and personality (Browning & Loeber, 1999). The reciprocal ohm factor was external forces, which consists of family members and friends (Browning & Loeber, 1999). The external forces were contained within different environments, such as the school and home (Browning & Loeber, 1999). The study also came across some individual lay on the line factors (Browning & Loeber, 1999). First, it was found that careless behaviors were related to delinquency (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Other factors that contributed to delinquency include intelligence quo tient and socioeconomic status (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Second, delinquents were found to have low threshold for interdict feelings, and were more prone to an impulsive manner (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Aside from these, there were other risk factors like depression and guilt (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Browning and Loeber also determined how family factors are also related to delinquency. Poor supervision is a major element in delinquency specific examples include the repercussions of physical punishments and inadequate communication amidst parents and sons (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Other family risk factors include low socioeconomic status, bad neighborhood and exposure to social services (Browning & Loeber, 1999). Moreover, it was found that broken families also caused delinquency (Browning & Loeber, 1999). The findings of the study provided the authorities with warning signs to look out for in potential delinquents. In my opinion, the government should take these findings an d work out a plan to avoid hike delinquency. According to the findings, the most prone to delinquency are those with low socioeconomic status, those with family problems, and African-American boys. The government should then focus their efforts to these specific categories. For instance, they can hold spend camps for African-American youth, where they can instill positive values so that they would not go astray. They should provide seminars for parents, so that they can be more effective in their parenting and communicating with their children. Since delinquency can be traced to ones socioeconomic status, the government should create venues for the improvement of ones social standing. These findings are extremely helpful in stopping youth delinquency, and the government should take advantage of these to effect change.ReferencesBrowning, K., & Loeber, R. (1999). Highlights of findings from the Pittsburgh youth study. OJJDP Fact Sheet, 95.