Attachment styles and family belonging of juvenile delinquents: The Marmara region sample

In this study, it is aimed to determine attachment styles of juvenile delinquents who are under protection and care in child support center, with their parents and peers and belonging to their families; and to determine whether attachment styles and family belonging differ according to various variables (age, gender, educational status, family structure, parental characteristics). This study was carried out by relational research method within the scope of quantitative research. Attachment and family belonging are very important for the psycho-social development of individuals, and that the lack of secure attachment and family belonging with some negative socio-demographic characteristics has harmful effects on children and causes them to be dragged into crime. In this study, a total of 67 cases, 18 of whom were female and 49 were male, were interviewed in 5 institutions where the children were under protection and care in Child Support Center of Kocaeli, Bursa, Tekirdağ and İstanbul province. In the study, Short Form of Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), Family Sense of Belonging Scale and Personal Information Form developed by the researcher were used to evaluate the relationship between attachment styles, family belonging and some socio-demographic characteristics. According to the results of the research, the gender of the adolescents, whether their families live together, whether they migrate, whether there is mental illness in the family, whether they have disciplinary punishment in the school, whether they have social activities, their violence, their parents' relations with them, their communication and their face-to-face interviews; relations, communication and face-to-face interviews with their siblings and friends were found to affect their levels of attachment and their family belonging. When the socio-demographic characteristics of children who were dragged into crime, having low education level, having high school dropout rate, having psychiatric disorders, having more siblings, having more fragmented parents, higher number of individuals using children and family members, low socio-economic level, parents working in unskilled jobs, parents having low levels of education, the number of individuals whose parents are involved in crime, the high number of individuals who have been subjected to crime in friends and in the environment indicate that adolescents in our study are also very effective in committing crime. In this context, our findings are important in terms of guiding family-oriented studies to reduce the risky behaviors of children particularlay who are committing crime.