Children’s Emotional Attitude Towards Parents in Family Systems of Juvenile Offenders ¹⁶⁴⁸

The article presents the study on the emotional relationships in families of juvenile offenders. Sample of families with juvenile offenders was compared with the sample of families with law-abiding young men. The main features of family structure of the juvenile offenders are described, which are mainly associated with the loss of the “father” figure. The psychocorrection with such families is proposed within the systemic-phenomenological approach (author B. Hellinger). Child’s pride for his father, love and respect for him manifested on a high level in the control group. In the group of juvenile offenders who did not have a father, feelings toward him were practically not expressed. In another group, where respect was highly expressed, both love and pride for the father did not exist. In all groups of juvenile offenders love toward mother was on a high level, but both pride and respect were absent. The following conclusion can be made: “They love their mothers, but do not respect them”. The results of our study suggest that different feelings of children toward their parents have specific functions. Love indicates the degree of attachment; respect demonstrates the division between family values and rules; and the pride shows a sense of belonging to the family. The task of recovery of respect and pride toward men and masculine has to be the main feature of the psychocorrectional programs while working with juvenile offenders.

Keywords: systemic-phenomenological approach, B. Hellinger, emotional relationships, family system, juvenile offenders.

Column: Juvenile Legal Psychology