Chapter 8 - The Person in Social Context: Family, School, Work, Leisure/Recreation, Marital Attachments, and Neighborhood

Abstract

This chapter illustrates how the contributions of setting and social context may be approached from a general personality and cognitive social learning perspective. There are dramatic differences in the state of knowledge in the various social contexts. In the domain of family of origin, the ability to predict and influence youthful offending is truly impressive. It is approaching causal or functional significance. Forming social attachments is the basis to healthy relationships that could protect a child from a criminal trajectory. Families operate along two dimensions: the relationship and the structuring/normative dimensions. Children who are raised in families in which there is a poor parental relationship and the parents exercise poor parenting techniques are most at risk for delinquency. Family interventions can reduce delinquency. The predictive validity of assessments in the domains of home, school, work, and leisure are impressive. Targeting parent–child relationships and parental structuring skills are associated with positive effects.