Hi, I am doing a research assignment for one of my Graduate School classes pertaining to Delinquency Motivations. I just need people to answer these four questions:

(1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
(2) Do you now view your activities in a more serious light (in what way(s))?
(3) What changed your view and behavior?
(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?

Please note that Juvenile delinquency can be any offenses, including status offenses (like truancy, the purchase and consumption of alcoholic beverages, knowingly associating with immoral persons, running away from home, being beyond parental control, curfew violations etc.)

I need to summarize responses given so individuals will be kept anonymous. I would greatly appreciate responses to these questions and thanks in advance.

.

I haven't.

Lalala~

(1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
Yep. Smoked, drank, and stole a lot. I guess the stealing doesn't necessarily count if you're going to say "just for fun" because I stole because my parents would always complain about money and when I saw something I liked or something I wanted that I didn't need, then I would just take it without telling anyone because I figured they wouldn't want to buy it for me anyway. (Edit: this was when I was like 6 or 7 though)

Um, curfew violations, knowingly associating with immoral people, those all are not within the boundaries of what I consider delinquency, so usually I don't particularly mind that I'm doing them or care. (Except when my parents are worried. Then I stop and suck up for a while)

Smoking was another story, I kind of just did that because I never saw it as 'that bad.' and figured, oh well. Just a sort of thing I did for no real particular reason, except maybe it was because I saw others doing it? I don't know. It wasn't a long time thing, nor was it an obsessive thing anyway. (this was around 12)

Drinking - it's fun to drink and it makes you sorta happy and more social, it's pretty fun. (started around 14, but began on and off later)

(2) How you now view your activity in a more serious light?
I don't understand this question, I'm sorry. Probably yes?

(3) What changed your view and behavior?
I started learning the value of a dollar and it happened to me. My parents opened a shop and sometimes I caught people shoplifting, and the worst of it was they always tried to lie about it. If they were with friends that aware that they shoplifted, then they would look at me as if I'm crazy and look /more/ annoyed with me than /I/ was at /them./ And believe me, I was very pissed off at them. No one, I mean no one would just simply apologize. I guess that annoyed me more than anything, and so I hate what I did now.

Smoking stopped because the propaganda got to me eventually. Although I still don't view as that terrible, I would never risk getting addicted.

I still drink though I've never gotten wasted.

(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?
Well, I figure it's going to be impossible for them /not/ to make the same mistakes, in different ways. Live and learn, I guess? I just would rather then know what stealing/drugs/alcohol is all about. After that, and if they really do understand what I mean without just knowing what I mean, then I guess I'd simply allow them to go through with it - just don't expect me to pick up the pieces. I would still care for them, but just not that particular part of them.

(Obviously, if I ever become a parent, I will be the worst one alive.)

For other children what sort of stops them from my experience is when someone they actually care about that cares about them is disappointed in them, without giving up on them and they feel guilty without feeling scorned. Okay, that's really lame. I'll stop. xD

Sorry for the long answers <3 I'm not that old yet, so I figure I'm still in the juvenile delinquency stage. 🤣

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

lovelylalaland, I do not mind long responses.

Yeah I have, but it wasn't that bad even in retrospect. I wouldn't do it now. I'm much more reserved and cowardly. I'd smack my kids down like my dad did me.

Quote from Shadowfox112

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

lovelylalaland, I do not mind long responses.

haha then I take back my apology xD nd you're welcome~

1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
Well, if that counts, I have been drinking alcohol since I was 4...
Not a lot, of course, but still drinking way prior to the legal age.
I come from a family where everybody drinks, so you can't not drink. Ya know? 🤣
It was harmless, of course.

Call me boring, but I've never shoplifted -
I felt guilty for trying those pickles they sell by weight (still do).
Never even smoked so much as a cigarette, let alone drugs.

But I'm probably also guilty of "associating with immoral persons" - having relatives like that. lol.

There's one more thing, but I choose to keep it to myself.

(2) How you now view your activity in a more serious light?
I'm perfectly fine with that.
The fact that I was allowed to drink never tempted me to go out and 'rebel' in the style of putting too much shit inside my body.

(3) What changed your view and behavior?
Nothing changed it, I just grew older and it stopped being illegal. 🤣

(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?
I don't consider having made any mistakes in that regard.
I'm not against moderate drinking, even getting a little drunk, but there always has to be a red line to never cross.
All of my friends have started drinking much later than I had, even a decade later (still being under aged) and they thought it was cool to get dead drunk.
Well, I was never tempted.
Having the buzz of drunkenness is fun, but I don't see what's so great about puking your guts out the next morning.

I'm not sure if we can actually prevent anything from happening just by telling stuff.
They need to make the right choice, while all we can do is give them the tools and not press too tight.

Hrodulf and Bjornolfr, you will not be forgotten.
[img]http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp199/SyberAngelGabrielle/couplesig.jpg[/img]
[color=black]And if the world were black and white,
you would be my rainbow in shades of grey.[/color]

Click 'n Play!

If I had a fantasy self, it'd be a tentacle monster.

Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
Erm, well I like to drink. I've been drinking for a couple of years now. Nothing serious though. I know when to stop. I've only ever been drunk once. It's ok to drink now though because I'm legal~ I can finally go out with some friends for a drink down the local pub xD
I've smoked before too, and not just cigarettes.

How you now view your activity in a more serious light?
Well I was sensible with the drinking I like to believe. The smoking perhaps was a dumb move but I was curious shrugs.

What changed your view and behavior?
Well nothings changed with the drinking. I still drink now and then.
The smoking was a one off thing. They tasted disgusting anyway.

How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?
Erm, well in regards to drinking, I think everyone's going to have a drink (unless their religion is strictly against it. I have some friends like this), it's just making sure they don't go overboard, and they know the risks. I mean, I have some friends that drink vodka, even though they hate it, just so they can get drunk. I personally, only drink the alcohol that tastes nice. I don't drink it to get drunk. I drink it because I like the taste 🤣
Smoking is something that should be avoided though. I let curiosity get the better of me. I know it's bad, but I still went for it. Information can't stop people. It can warn but not stop. Ultimately it's the person's decision.
I'm sort of glad I didn't like it. Getting hooked on to cigarettes is not a wise move.

I hope I answered your question correctly. Sometimes I go off on tangents and start to talk about unnecessary things.
Or I completely misunderstand and make myself look stupid 🤣

(1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
Oh yes, I had to go to a catholic all boys boarding school out in the middle of nowhere. It's not a good idea to squeeze dozens of boys together in the middle of puberty and the only thing resembling a female being the (bearded) lunch lady.
We used to fight a lot, I think in all this years there wasn't a single week I wasn't in at least one brawl. We drank everything that we could get our hands on, would have been a lot more with some civilization around. Same goes for smoking but I never liked it until I was out of school.

There was a lot of bullying and some boys had a very hard life. You could say it was "just for fun" or rather boredom and way too much energy. Usually this would erupt in violence towards each other and sometimes the school itself. We trashed a classroom, car of an educating priest... stuff like that.

(2) How you now view your activity in a more serious light?
The only thing I truly regret is that I took part in bullying I still feel remorse for that.

(3) What changed your view and behavior?
Age and the fact that I hadn't to sleep with 20 other boys in one room anymore.

(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?
I certainly wouldn't send them to a boarding school but I don't think you can do much about it when they hit a certain age. Puberty is a bitch.

I'm a goody two shoes. Ever since I was a wee tyke, I've been associated with a lot of "bad examples" whose lives were not envious. So, I did the opposite of what they did. The worst delinquency I've done is go bowling late (about 10 - 11 PM) with friends without knowing if we were breaking curfew or not. It didn't seem like a big deal, so we didn't worry about it.

(1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
Yes, building sites are an amazing playground and fire is great fun. I would put under-age drinking as others have but this is Ireland... hardly juvenile delinquency 😛
(2) How you now view your activity in a more serious light?
No regrets
(3) What changed your view and behavior?
Grew up...
(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?
They're mistakes to make. I just hope to be there to help them if they need it.

(1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
I can't say it was for fun, but for a while I enjoyed the activity. (For me I bought things with money when I wasn't allowed to years ago. Or just say family was against it but I secretly took money from the money jar. But I enjoyed the activity not for the thrill but because of the things I bought)

(2) How you now view your activity in a more serious light?
I suppose if I hadn't stopped and reflected on my behavior I'd probably gone on and think that's it's ok and might have later on shoplifted. (for the record I never did but had temptations.)

(3) What changed your view and behavior?
got caught and grew up from it

(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistake?
Tell them the things that shouldn't be done and if they still do it I hope I'd be sane enough to forgive and correct them on a new path.

Nulla in mundo pax sincera
"Always go too far, because that's where you'll find the truth." - Albert Camus

Nada.
Always was a proper boy.

(1) Have you ever participated in juvenile delinquency "just for fun"?
No; well, not normal delinquent behavior, anyway. It's all too... flamboyant. Everything I did was more subtle then that. If there was a chance of getting caught, I didn't do it.

(2) Do you now view your activity in a more seriously light?
Not really. I mean I never(and still don't) did anything super bad. Actually, never anything against the law at all. Mostly it was just about me going against my parents "moral" standards. (Watching R+ rated movies when I was 10... reading Berserk at that age... ect.)

(3) What changed your behavior?
Well, since I never did anything that bad (that wasn't acceptable after you turned a certain age), nothing really changed. I still watch R rated movies, I still read Berserk. Now I'm old enough though, my parents no longer care.

(4) How would you help your children or other children not make the same mistakes?
I wouldn't mind them doing it, in all honesty. Especially if it kept them from trying more extreme, run-of-the-mill delinquent behaviors like stealing, smoking, drinking, ect.

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?