Chats study sheds light on juvenile delinquency

Cape Town.14.09.2007: This teenager contracted the HIV virus about 5 years ago when she went to a state Hospital for some treatment. Picture Henk Kruger/Star/Cape Times

Cape Town.14.09.2007: This teenager contracted the HIV virus about 5 years ago when she went to a state Hospital for some treatment. Picture Henk Kruger/Star/Cape Times

Published May 5, 2014

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Durban - Research into Chatsworth teenagers has found that while boys are more likely to demonstrate delinquent behaviour, high school girls were also guilty of transgressions such as vandalising school property and sleeping out without their parents’ permission.

The study is the work of University of KwaZulu-Natal PhD student Bonita Marimuthu and Dr Nirmala Gopal, a senior lecturer in the department of criminology and forensic studies.

It was based on the confidential responses of 750 pupils from two Chatsworth high schools.

Marimuthu said that juvenile delinquency had become an area of interest for local government and NGOs because of the growing social challenges with which youths were confronted, and while extensive research on the subject existed, not much of it had focused on Chatsworth specifically.

“Criminal behaviour, delinquency, or deviant behaviour has been described in literature as male behaviour.

“This is, however, far from the truth,” Marimuthu said.

Citing earlier research, she explained that, compared with boys, the background of delinquent girls was more likely to be characterised by low self-esteem and hardship.

The pupils who participated in the UKZN study ranged from grades 8 to 11.

The researchers first looked at whether there was a difference in how the pupils were disciplined, but both the girls and boys said that their parents or guardians used a stick or other object to punish them.

More girls than boys claimed to be frequently physically disciplined.

Turning to the gender differences in the violating of norms, the study results showed that both boys and girls slept out without permission.

Even though more boys than girls admitted to doing so, boys tended to enjoy more freedom from their parents or guardians.

A small proportion of girls admitted to driving without a licence and vandalising school property.

“Presently the different rates of delinquent activity for males and females is one of the most thoroughly documented and most widely accepted in the field of juvenile criminology,” the research stated.

“In this study, statistical data confirms a significant relationship between gender and juvenile delinquency trends among adolescents.

“However, the altering roles of females in society and the differential handling of female juvenile delinquents by the criminal system play a part in accounting for the increase in female juvenile delinquency,” it concluded.

 

Another factor was “social control practices” – research showed that in their teens for example, boys were more often allowed to go to places without permission or supervision, go out after dark, and to be left home alone, than girls whose movements were more restricted by their parents. - The Mercury

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