In the modern world, the problem of deviant behavior is especially acute. Economic inequality, massive globalization, free access to information, the development of democracy, as well as social phenomena often cause negative reactions in the teenage environment. Young people rebel against injustice, established or imposed moral principles. Often this protest develops into especially dangerous forms that harm not only the young "revolutionary", but the whole society.
Deviations from standards of conduct
The boundaries of what was permitted have long been delineated by humanity in the process of its development. Deviant behavior, examples of which can be observed in all walks of life, is a deviation from generally accepted norms, customs, foundations and traditions. It is non-standard, does not meet the expectations of the surrounding world or a group of people. It is clear that there is no absolutely perfect society: often its members make exceptions to the rules, circumvent canons, and do not fulfill their tasks. But this reaction does not have an aggressive or destructive color; rather, it is filled with elements of cunning, laziness, greed and other personality traits of the individual. Such a person, if it harms itself and other people, is insignificant, easily correctable.
Another thing is deviant behavior. Life examples show that it has the most negative impact not only on the mental and physical development of a person, but also on his socialization. And what is most sad, other personalities may suffer from it. Deviant behavior has its own focus:
- Selfish goals. Acts whose purpose is to obtain material benefits: theft, robbery, speculation, theft, fraud.
- Aggressive manifestations. These are actions against the individual: sexual, physical and moral violence.
- Socially passive orientation. Avoiding full-fledged life in society, lack of interest in current events: vagrancy, drunkenness, suicide.
Behavioral deviations can be classified according to a number of factors: depending on the form of violation (etiquette, morality, law); motivation (selfish, aggressive, pessimistic); performer (individual, group of people, organization).
Varieties of deviant behavior
Wrecking can be divided into two large groups of violations. Each of them is fundamentally different, since it is based on diametrically opposite incentive elements:
1. Mental disorder, that is, the presence of a congenital or acquired pathology in a teenager. The problem of deviant behavior is most often observed in people suffering from schizophrenia, asthenia, imbecility, oligophrenia and other disorders of consciousness. This group also includes individuals with an accentuated nature, when some deviations in behavior are still within normal limits, but are almost bordering on pathology. Such individuals can also be given a definite diagnosis, but often they do not undergo the necessary treatment, since they can live a full life without revealing features in their psyche.
2. Antisocial behavior. People who are prone to negative actions are mentally healthy. The rebellion committed by them has a lot of different reasons: from “there is simply nothing to do” to trying to turn all the foundations of society upside down due to the unfair distribution of material wealth in it. If the offenses committed by these people do not bring much harm to the outside world, then the correction of deviant behavior occurs by punishment in accordance with the norms of labor or administrative law. Police officers often charge offenders with penalties or charge a fine; in an enterprise, institution or office, such individuals face reprimand, disciplinary action or dismissal. If the crime qualifies as a criminal, more severe punishments are applied to the offender, for example, arrest or imprisonment on one or another line.
Whatever the starting points of deviant behavior, it must be stopped in any case, and preventive, curative, or punitive measures should be applied to the person who committed the misconduct.
Accentuation
It should be discussed in detail, since this feature is most often observed in juveniles in puberty. Accentuation, as already mentioned, is a slight deviation from the norm of behavior. In this case, adolescents have a distinct character trait, most often negative, which becomes problematic in communicating with others. For example, he may openly be rude to teachers and parents, refuse to do homework, ignore requests for help from adults, and so on. There may be several reasons for this: a complex school curriculum, difficulties of a transitional age, and the influence of puberty. If we add personal troubles or experienced stresses due to problems in the family, we get a real deviant who is ready to take revenge on everyone and everyone.
It happens that a child’s protest is not in an active, but in a passive form. This behavioral reaction is called depression, and its minors carefully hide from adults. It can develop due to imaginary physical disabilities that children ascribe to themselves at puberty. Also, a teenager may have a so-called locus of control, when he unreasonably assumes responsibility for important or tragic events. This is also deviant behavior. Examples include the following: guilt after losing a loved one, the death of a pet or a serious illness of a best friend.
Reasons for Deviant Behavior
In part, we have already named them. Sociologists distinguish three main primary sources, thanks to which the social behavior of a teenager goes beyond the bounds of decency:
- Social inequality. The child is faced with this phenomenon even in elementary school: classmates dress better than him, they have more pocket money and so on. A minor feels poor, disadvantaged. He cannot fully demonstrate his capabilities and talents due to the lack of material wealth. It is sometimes difficult even to realize oneself when there is no money at the disposal with which you can purchase books, atlases, encyclopedias. A teenager is angry with the whole world, but first of all with his parents. Even if they try their best, the deviant does not understand that a person’s desires do not always coincide with his capabilities.
- Moral and ethical factor. It is expressed in the low spiritual development of society, apathy for science and art. A child observes a decline in morals among people: many of them, for example, consider trafficking in body and labor, mass alcoholism and prostitution as an ordinary event.
- Environment, society. Representatives of the latter not only ignore the deviants, but often even favor them. Nowadays they feel sorry for them, blaming the upbringing and living in dysfunctional families for everything, and forget that the personality is formed primarily not by the parents, but by the person himself. There are many individuals who grew up in an unfavorable environment, but managed to instill internal willpower and fortitude, so they reached certain heights in life and became normal members of society.
The characteristic of deviant behavior is marked by the complete absence of strong qualities in adolescents or their stay in a "sleeping" state. Instead of self-education, they choose an easier but dangerous road that gives them deceptive oblivion in the form of alcohol or drug intoxication or an imaginary self-affirmation, manifested in the form of violence.
Typology
Types of behavior that run counter to a normal way of life were highlighted by the American sociologist Robert King Merton, known for his studies of the problem. His typology is based on the concept of deviation as a gap between revered moral values and methods for their achievement:
- Innovation. People accept the goals of society, understand them, but deny the normal methods of achievement (prostitutes, creators of financial pyramids, blackmailers, great scientists).
- Ritualism. The goals of society are ignored, and the way they are achieved is absurd. An example is a bureaucrat who requires the detailed filling of hundreds of forms of documents. At the same time, he forgets about the main thing: why the papers were signed.
- Retreatism is an escape from reality. The individual refuses goals and all methods of achieving them (drug addict, homeless person).
- Revolt. Denial of moral principles, the desire to remake them, replace them with more perfect and progressive ones (revolutionary).
Merton behaviors show us that deviation is not always negative. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with the actions of a revolutionary; he is simply trying to create better conditions for life. As for the great scientist, he is, on the contrary, considered a respected and revered person who has little oddities or eccentricities.
Alcoholism and drug addiction
These two forms of deviant behavior among adolescents are more common than the rest. Alcoholism is the excessive consumption of alcohol by minors, which threatens their physical and mental health, causes pathological addiction, dependence. There are many reasons: genetic tendency, congenital syndrome, individual personality traits, unfavorable environment, curiosity. Deviant behavior, examples of which are demonstrated by schoolchildren who drink alcohol, is the result of a low level of development, a lack of demand in the team, and self-doubt. To get a child out of a dangerous company and quickly save him from the negative effects of alcohol, it is necessary to find a fascinating activity for the victim, as well as normal friends who will show an example of self-affirmation using other methods. The company also came up with legal measures to prevent soldering of minors: a ban on the sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 18, a fine to parents for the appearance of their son or daughter while intoxicated. In addition, accustoming children to drinking alcohol is considered a crime, which is punishable by articles of administrative and criminal law.
Addiction is another deviation from the norm. It implies the systematic use of substances intoxicating consciousness, causing deep and irreversible disturbances in mental and physical functions. A teenager becomes addicted to pills, injections, and powders due to neglect by society. Often with the help of drugs, minors express themselves or quench their curiosity. Addiction to them often prompts a teenager to take the criminal path in order to illegally raise money to buy a potion. Children who fall into such bondage should be treated in special institutions. It is often impossible to give up drugs on your own.
Prostitution and homosexuality
Deviant behavior, examples of which are shown by girls who provide sexual services for or without remuneration, is also not uncommon. The main reason is the desire to earn money, to improve the financial situation on their own, if parents are not able to provide all the vagaries dictated by the fashion and the media promoted by the "beautiful life". If we add to this the low level of the teenager’s culture and his social licentiousness, family troubles and the indifference of adults, the way to the panel becomes a kind of salvation for the child, an opportunity to hide from the difficulties and vicissitudes of fate. To reduce prostitution among minors to a minimum, it is recommended to develop special sex education programs, equalize social inequality, and improve the culture of the population.
As for homosexuality, in most cases it is an innate predisposition. Upon discovering that he is not like everyone else, the teenager becomes depressed, begins to take large quantities of drugs and alcohol, suffers from neurosis and mental disorders. Such a minor needs qualified assistance from a specialist. If he was drawn into homosexuality through deception or coercion, then guilty persons face imprisonment. By the way, sexual perversions are also deviant behavior. Life examples show that adolescents become interested in sadomasochism, group intimacy and other unnatural things.
Suicide and Offenses
The intention to take your own life or try to scare others around you in this way is also a feature of deviant behavior. The most dangerous age for young people is 16–19 years: at this time usually comes a disappointment in life due to a failed first love, inability to find work or continue education. Social status, conflicts with society, and stress are also powerful impetus for suicide. For people with suicidal tendencies, psychological assistance services and helplines are organized. Preventive work is also important: raising a child as a cheerful optimist, demonstrating by his own example that life is beautiful, and the black stripes that are found in almost everyone bring in it only variety and astringent zest.
Offenses - a form of antisocial behavior that is directed against citizens, society, lifestyle. Motivation in adolescents is different: starting from ordinary mischief and ending with unmotivated aggression. In order to protect the growing generation from the influence of the criminal world, it is necessary to conduct lessons in schools on relevant topics. Parents, for their part, are obliged to explain that breaking the law is bad, harming or hurting others is unacceptable, and deviant behavior is punishable in any case.
Help
How to get teenagers out of that antisocial abyss in which they are mired? Sociologists say: firstly, a special state program will help. The deviant behavior of children must be taken under control, this is the task of specialists. Favorable conditions should also be created for opening rehabilitation centers of various directions, in which experienced specialists could save young people from harmful addictions and channel their energy into a productive and useful channel for society.
Secondly, the hotlines operating in each city, national helplines and regional family counseling of psychologists will provide invaluable assistance.
Thirdly, the study of the adaptation environment of adolescents should not stop for a day. The deviant behavior of schoolchildren requires constant adjustment, which must take place in full cooperation with the juvenile inspection, doctors, police, guardianship representatives. If necessary, such children should be removed from the family, if the reason for the deviation is precisely the influence of the parents.
Prevention of deviant behavior
For this, the specialists developed the following measures:
1. Conducting educational and developmental programs, courses in schools. The lectures are aimed at educating adolescents and instilling in them a sustainable aversion to drugs, alcohol, etc.
2. Advocacy for sports and a healthy lifestyle. Ban advertising tobacco products and spirits.
3. Organization of interesting and informative leisure for youth. Working with children of deviant behavior requires the development of such a pastime scenario, which would be in line with modern trends and fashion trends.
4. Caring for the material well-being of children.
Prevention of deviant behavior should cover all segments of the population, regardless of their social status, religion, level of education and other factors. The main task is to establish a trusting relationship between a teenager and his parents. Only then can you be sure that if a problem arises, the student will turn to his mother or father for help, and not to a dubious company of friends.
Friendly relations in the family are the guarantee that you will never encounter the deviant behavior of your son or daughter. It is necessary to take care that no problems arise in the future from the earliest years. Pay attention to your child: give him love and tenderness, do not swear in his presence, talk with the baby on different topics, share your feelings and emotions, listen to the heir and listen to his opinion. Become a faithful, faithful and reliable companion for your child.