Adolescents' and young adults' lifestyle and deviant and delinquent behaviors: From family, school, and individual experiences

• Autor(a) principal: Caridade, Sónia Maria Martins
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Martins, Ana Cristina, Nunes, Laura
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.31211/rpics.2019.5.1.106
• topic: Lifestyle; Delinquent behavior; Deviant behavior; Adolescents; Young adults; Descriptive survey study; Estilo de vida; Comportamentos delinquentes; Comportamentos desviantes; Adolescentes; Jovens adultos; Estudo de levantamento descritivo

Objective: Knowledge about young people's lifestyle is fundamental for identifying and intervening in risk behaviors. It is also important for promoting opportunities for young people's development. So, the present article aims to characterize adolescents' and young adults' lifestyle and their possible delinquent behaviors. Method: The sample included 80 adolescents and young adults (M= 19.00, SD= 2.60 years old), 56% of the males. For the purpose of collecting data, we created a questionnaire for this study. Results: The participants reported lack of parental supervision, no rules enforcement; the occurrence of conflicts with peers, teachers, and school staff, as well as absence of study habits and extracurricular activities; they also admitted to spending more time with peers than with family. They also admitted that they had already adopted different deviant and delinquent or even criminal conduct (e.g., assaults against colleagues, teachers and school staff, causing intentional damage to another person's objects, being involved with deviant peer groups, and having practices like the invasion of private property, thefts, and drug trafficking). The male sex assumed more of these behaviors. Conclusions: Therefore, in order to prevent crime, it is important to develop efforts to consider the group of adolescents and young adults who are already demonstrating antisocial behavior, given their greater risk for the development of future forms of social maladjustment, also affecting the school and family environment.