Abstract

SILVA, Maria Denise Pessoa e; MATSUKURA, Thelma Simões; CID, Maria Fernanda Barboza  and  MINATEL, Martha Morais. Young offenders in brazil: mental health and factors of risk and protection. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2015, vol.25, n.2, pp. 162-169. ISSN 0104-1282.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7322/JHGD.102999.

INTRODUCTION: The literature has indicated that young offenders may show varied problems of mental health; however, in Brazil a limited number of studies are focused on that question OBJECTIVE: Identify the health, self-esteem and social support levels of male young offenders complying with not confined socio-educational measures, the parenting styles adopted towards them and identify the relationship between these variables METHODS: It is an exploratory and correlational study in which 33 male young offenders aged between 14 and 18 years who attend the socio-educational programme of a mid-size city in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, took part on the study, they answered specific instruments to appraise different variables of focus RESULTS: The results indicate that 67% of the adolescents presented mental health disorders; 84% perceive that the social support received is below "low" or "medium", and 33% judge the parental style of their caregiver as a risk. The greater the negligence and poor support of the family and caregivers, the lower the self-esteem of young offenders CONCLUSIONS: Most of the adolescents had mental health disorders and evaluated the social support received as low or medium. All participants evaluated negatively the parental style adopted by their parents. The parental style used was considered below average and risky. Furthermore, was observed that the lower the self-esteem of the adolescents and the lower the family support perceived by them, the higher was the degree of parental negligence evaluated. It is understood that these results reinforce the need for intersectoral coordination in actions aimed at this population

Keywords : young offenders; mental health; social support; risk and protection.

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