An investigation of the characteristics of academic achievement, family-social pedigree and mental health in delinquent teenagers

Juvenile delinquency is one of the most complicated social issues that has entangled public opinion. The present study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of academic achievement, family-social pedigree and mental health in delinquent teenagers in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The research method was descriptive-survey. The population included all the delinquent teenagers at the rehabilitation center of Sistan and Baluchestan during 2015-2016. From among them, using availability sampling, 86 delinquent teenagers were selected. In addition to identifying their current level of education and their grade point average, a researcher-made questionnaire on their family traits and the SCL-90-R mental health questionnaire were employed. The findings showed that delinquent teenagers were the third child of the family in terms of family descent and had a large family structure, social status, economic background, parents with low education and a large number of family members. In the area of academic achievement, the majority of juvenile offenders were illiterate and few of them held primary or secondary education. The most frequent reason for the status of these teenagers was that they were helping the family and their attitude toward the community was bad. These teenagers needed attention and clinical intervention in mental health, and they also needed clinical intervention at the scale of suspicion, depression, and fear. With the scientific identification of these characteristics, it is clear that appropriate programs for preventing the delinquency of juvenile delinquents in the formulation of educational programs and their career and academic guidance are significant.