Shame as a Consequence of the Parent-Child Relationship

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe object of this research is to investigate the relationship between gender, parent-child relations, shame and juvenile delinquency. The study proceeds from a social bonding theoretical framework and hypothesizes that shame will act as an intervening mechanism through which poor parent-child relations impact upon delinquency. The present study addresses three key research questions. Are girls more strongly attached to and controlled by their parents than boys are? Do girls feel more shame in the face of significant others than boys do? And, finally, does shame mediate the effect of parent-child relations in the explanation of delinquency? A total of 979 students in grade 8 of the Swedish school system (aged 14; 505 boys and 474 girls) were included in the study. The findings show girls to be more strongly attached to parents, to be more controlled and to feel more shame than boys. Finally, the analyses show that feeling less shame in the face of significant others tended to mediate the effect of poor parent-child relations on delinquency for girls. For boys, both family interaction and shaming components are significantly related to delinquency. K E Y W O R D SGender Differences / Juvenile Delinquency / Parent-Child Relationship / Shame.That males commit more offences and more serious offences than females has been well established in studies of both self-reported and officially

Do Specific Combinations of Parent–Child Relationships Predict Moral Values?

“…Shame arises when an individual commits an act that breaches internalized norms and then feels that he or she has failed to abide by the norms of the group (Elster 1999;Svensson 2004;Svensson et al 2013). The important issue here is not the act in itself, but the fact that the individual has committed that act: the focus is on the individual's perception of one's self through the eyes of others and their disapproval.…”

“…Although numerous criminological studies are interested in parent-child bonds (or relationships), the complexity of this social bond and underlying mechanisms explaining relationships between social bonds and delinquent behavior are rarely investigated (e.g. Svensson 2004).…”

“…these bonds and delinquency are rarely investigated (e.g. Svensson 2004), yet knowledge could be gained by studying how these bonds are established through a combination of relationships (Weerman 1998). Further, existing studies that have examined anticipated shame have failed to differentiate between the significant others toward whom one feels ashamed (parents, teachers, and peers).…”

The Role of Parental Maltreatment and Parental Social Control on Self-Reported Violent Offending in Indonesia and the U.S.: Does Gender Make a Difference?

“…There could also be differences in terms of perceived threats of informal sanctions, such as shame and embarrassment, which can produce gender differences in offending and these differences can vary by type of household [82]. Females are more likely to be strongly attached to parents and feel more shame than males [83]. Gender differences are also affected by differential notions of masculinity perpetuated through gendered socialization.…”

Experiencing Shame: How Does Gender Affect the Interpersonal Dynamics of Restorative Justice?

“…In comparison to males, RST predicts that criminal behavior will be less likely for females because they will be more likely to experience reintegrative (rather than disintegrative) shaming due to their higher levels of interdependency (Braithwaite, 1989; Svensson, 2004). Individuals who are interdependent are part of networks of others to whom they are dependent upon to “achieve valued ends and others are dependent upon them” (Braithwaite, 1989, p. 100).…”