The Parents’ Perspective: Delinquency, Aggression and Mental Health

Based on an extensive study of the parents of youth in trouble, this work describes and analyzes how urban parents view the problems of their adolescent children and how they have tried to cope with and to seek help for them. Focusing on parents as third-party help-seekers, the authors shed light on the types of problems experienced by adolescents in urban communities. By concentrating on the parents, who usually bring the youth into the legal or mental health system, the book provides numerous insights into the nature of problems among urban youths. It describes how certain legal and psychological problems often coexist, examines the reasons for these problems, and shows how this knowledge can be used to improve the delivery of youth and family services.