Abstract
The number of child delinquents has increased significantly within the last decade. It is a major cause for concern since these children tend to become serious, violent, and chronic offenders while in their teen years. Based on the observation, this study sought to answer the question of what are the effects of parental involvement on criminal outcomes in children. The participants of this study are college students with the history of delinquency. The research uses the survey method as the experimental approach, and the data collection uses the administration of a questionnaire. The study targets 500 participants in the study with the number of participants with the history of delinquency expected to be at least 100. The testing of this sample involves the use of descriptive statistics, the ANOVA, t-statistics, and correlation. A positive relationship between the variable is expected.
Keywords:
Delinquency, Parental Involvement, Parental Control, Criminal Activities, Behavior, Adolescents
Methods
Participants
The participants include the college students from my institution. The survey targeted five hundred respondents with the intention of having at least 200 female respondents (40%) and at least 300 male respondents (60%). The rationale for targeting the two sexes considering the criteria set above was based on the research findings that male students are more likely to get involved in delinquent behavior than the female students (Murray, Farrington & Sekol, 2012). On the composition of the participants by other demographic characteristics, the study targeted all students equally to ensure that the race composition of the participants was not in any way skewed towards any particular interest group. Consequently, the sample would be considered as representative of the population in the institution considering the ethnicity composition of the Caucasian, African-Americans, and other communities within the institution. These characteristics would then ensure that the findings of the sampled participants would be comfortably applied in making inferences about the general population at the institution of learning (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009).
Other demographic characteristics include the age of the participants. The study targets students older than 14 years of age and not older than 24 years. The respondents will be grouped into three respondent categories, which include the early adolescents aged below 16 years, late adolescent stage aged between 16 years, and 18 years and early adulthood aged above 18 years and up to 24 years. Findings of the study would be grouped into the three categories and compared using statistical tools to determine the effect of parental involvement on criminal outcomes in children. In each of the categories, the age of the respondent must be within two standard deviations from the mean. To meet the objectives of the research study, the qualifying factor for the target population will be the history of involvement in delinquent behavior (Murray, Loeber & Pardini, 2012). The sample of the final respondents must, therefore, include only a sample of participants that have a history of delinquent behavior. The only way to determine this is to ensure that early in the survey, the participants are requested to answer a question concerning their life that touches on delinquency.
Materials and Procedures
The research employs the use of a survey. The survey will employ the use of a detailed questionnaire as the tool of data collection. The survey will involve the participants mentioned above. In the survey, the respondents will be identified by the use of random sampling techniques. The simple random technique gives every person in the population an equal chance of being selected in the study. It means that the sample size will then be representative of the population, and consequently, the inferences made from the survey of the sample will be used to generalize observations to the general population (Benz & Newman, 2008). The use of random sampling also ensures that there are no inherent research biases and; hence, raising the credibility and the reliability of the study.
The survey will employ the use of mixed methods approach. The mixed method approach combines both the qualitative measures and the quantitative measures to get the best out of the collected data (Bergman, 2007). The qualitative and quantitative methods as materials of research are correctly complementary instead of competitive, and consequently, they allow the researcher provide credible research. The quantitative methods will be used in the collection of quantitative data about the population, and this includes information on the demographic characteristics of the population, such as the gender, age, ethnic composition, and the number of respondents with the history of delinquency versus that number that does not have the history of delinquency. On the other hand, the qualitative tools of research will be employed in collecting information concerning the extent to which parental involvement in the child’s life is considered to result in delinquent behavior. Similarly, the research will investigate the qualitative characteristics of the parental involvement that are considered to contribute to delinquent behavior. The information of interest, in this case, will encompass traits like the level of control that the parent exerts on the child and how it influences the behaviors of the children.
The data will be collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire will be fully structured questionnaires meaning that the answers that the respondents will provide will be limited (Creswell & Plano, 2007). The Likert scale will be used in structuring the answers to the questionnaire. It will make it easy for the researcher to code the data into a computer program such as SPSS or Microsoft Excel and conduct the analysis. Additionally, having a fully structured questionnaire will ensure that the researcher only collects the data that is considerably important to the study. For instance, the Liker scale will enable the researcher to limit the age of the respondents with those targeted respondents or participants not considered to fall within the specified age group being disqualified from the survey (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003). Physical questionnaires will be administered to the participants.
The procedure of administration of the questionnaires begins with the approval of the research proposal, the grant of the recommendation for data collection, and the preparation of the consent form. The use of the recommendation letter from the university is to inform the respondents that the data will be used purely for research purposes while the consent form will be used to inform the respondents of their rights as participants in the study. It will also ensure that the confidentiality and privacy rights of the respondents are protected throughout the study and that not personal or private information is collected using the data collection tool.
The analysis of the data will begin immediately after the return of the questionnaires. The analysis will begin with the disqualification criteria with all the questionnaires received back being assessed based on whether the respondents have a history of delinquency. The target of the study is to identify at least 100 participants with the history of delinquent behavior. Based on this sample, the study of the effects of parental involvement on criminal outcomes in children will be determined (Dallaire & Wilson, 2010). Focusing only on the sample of participants with the history of delinquency allows the researchers to concentrate only on the data that is relevant to meeting the research objectives and answering the research questions as identified in the paper (Schiffrin et al., 2014). Data presentation and the presentation of the findings will involve the use of table and the use of descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-statistics, and correlation.
Throughout the study, the existence of criminal behavior in children will be the dependent variable, and it will be measured against the level of parental involvement at different stages or ages of the participants. The level of parental involvement will be used as the independent variable in the study. For the dependent variable, the data will be rated based on two categories with the first being a yes or no answer to whether they were involved in delinquent behavior. Information on the nature of the delinquent behavior and the type of punishment will also be used in formulating the dependent variable (Johnson & Easterling, 2012). On the independent variable, the Likert scale value on the level of parental involvement will be the major measure of interest in the study. Other than the use of the recommendation letter, the consent form, and the questionnaire that will be administered, there will be no any other form of recruitment required for the participants, and this will prevent any form of research bias.
References
Benz, C., & Newman, I. (2008). Mixed methods research. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Bergman, M. (2007). Mixed methods research. London: SAGE.
Creswell, J., & Plano Clark, V. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications.
Dallaire, D. H., & Wilson, L. C. (2010). The relation of exposure to parental criminal activity, arrest, and sentencing to children’s maladjustment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19(4), 404-418.
Johnson, E. I., & Easterling, B. (2012). Understanding unique effects of parental incarceration on children: Challenges, progress, and recommendations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(2), 342-356.
Murray, J., Farrington, D. P., & Sekol, I. (2012). Children's antisocial behavior, mental health, drug use, and educational performance after parental incarceration: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 138(2), 175.
Murray, J., Loeber, R., & Pardini, D. (2012). Parental involvement in the criminal justice system and the development of youth theft, marijuana use, depression, and poor academic performance. Criminology, 50(1), 255-302.
Schiffrin, H. H., Liss, M., Miles-McLean, H., Geary, K. A., Erchull, M. J., & Tashner, T. (2014). Helping or hovering? The effects of helicopter parenting on college students’ well-being. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(3), 548-557.
Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2003). Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications.
Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2009). Foundations of mixed methods research. Los Angeles: SAGE.
