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Gaynor Wingham studies research on the extent of delinquency among teenagers and the impact of parenting on teenagers' development.

That parenting styles have an influence on whether young teenagers turn to crime or engage in delinquent activities is one of the findings from a research study funded by the Economic Social Research Council. This research may interest those working with families of young adolescents or looking at alternative carers for this age group. Its findings also relate to victimisation and bullying which may interest schools and groupwork projects.

The study was carried out in Edinburgh as part of a wider study collecting information annually on 4,300 young people who started secondary school in 1998. It collects information from young people themselves, schools, social workers, and the children's court hearing system.

The research suggests that delinquency at the age of 12-13 is fairly widespread and includes a wide range of anti-social behaviours such as shoplifting, fighting, carrying a weapon, stealing from cars, graffiti and assault. More than half of the young people interviewed admitted to two or more delinquent acts in the previous 12 months.

The study further linked smoking and drinking to delinquency, and identified a substantial use of drugs in the age group, with 8 per cent saying they had used drugs (most commonly cannabis, glue, gas or speed) in the past year. It also suggests that young people who had been victims of bullying, harassment by adults, theft, threats, robbery or assault were more likely to commit offences. It concluded that in many cases offending and victimisation are part of the same social interaction.

Researchers measured three personality dimensions: impulsivity (inability to control immediate impulses), alienation (a belief that the world is against you) and self-esteem. Those who are victimised and those who offend tend to have lower self-esteem. Impulsivity and alienation are also strongly related to victimisation.

The study concluded that this helps to explain the link between offending and victimisation since being the victim of crime tends to make young people feel alienated. They also find it hard to control their impulses and become more likely to commit offences to get their own back.

The research was unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion on gender differences. While delinquency is twice as common among boys as among girls, researchers were surprised to find that delinquency had increased faster among girls. They were also surprised by the rapid increase in smoking among girls; by the age of 13 a higher proportion of girls than boys were smokers.

The findings on victimisation strongly support the initiatives in schools and young people's groups to reduce bullying, and highlight the need to deal with bullies and victims at an early stage. Initiatives in primary schools are particularly welcomed as a preventive measure. The findings would also support initiatives to look at anger management and self-esteem at primary and lower secondary school level. This could also be relevant for group work with children in this age group.

The conclusions on parenting styles may provide interesting practice issues. If young people are within a household where the child sees parenting as arbitrary and inconsistent, then the research shows that there is a higher incidence of delinquency. If this is the case, it reinforces the need to provide advice and support groups for parents before children reach the age of 12. Family Centre initiatives may usefully target families with pre-adolescent children.

The study shows parents who supervise children closely, but are happy to negotiate and allow them to believe they have some autonomy, are most likely to avoid problem teenagers. This parenting style is seen as more successful than laying down the law.

Equally this can be relevant when assessing and training alternative carers. Foster carers and residential workers who provide firm boundaries are often seen as providing good care. This research seems to indicate that it is the consistency plus the supervision and negotiation, which may produce better outcomes. This could usefully be explored in training and foster carer preparation groups.

The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions by Professor David Smith, Dr Lesley McAra and Susan McVie at Edinburgh University. Information on ESRC's website www.esrc.ac.uk  

Gaynor Wingham is director of the Professional Independents Consultancy.