From Innocence to Corruption: The Effects of a Broken Home on Child Development 1 Brittany Henderson© Simon Fraser University Abstract. A vast amount of evidence suggests that growing up in an adverse family environment has detrimental effects on child development. My research focused on harmful factors that are correlated with growing up in a broken home, such as insecure attachment, child abuse, low-SES, and negative schooling experiences. Specifically, I investigated how growing up in a broken home has affected my participant’s development into a criminal life-course. During my research I discovered that my participant’s experiences supported the literature that has been written on this topic. He displayed insecure attachment with both of his parents, was a victim of child abuse, grew up in an underprivileged family, and had many negative experiences at school. Overall, my research gives excellent insight into the personal experiences of a career criminal’s transition from an innocent child to a life of delinquency. In order to decrease the harmful effects of an unenriched childhood, future researchers should focus on trying to find an effective intervention that attends to the needs of the parents, children, and their relationship. Introduction Adverse family environments are a major risk factor in predicting future delinquency (Kierkus & Baer, 2003). Studies have shown that children with parents who end their marriage in divorce are more likely to have higher levels of depression and engage in a greater amount of antisocial behaviour (Statistics Canada, 2005 a). Furthermore, criminological theories also suggest that families with one parent are more likely to raise non-conforming children than families with the traditional two-parent structure. Antisocial behaviour is thought to develop due to lack of attachment, unsupportive parenting, improper supervision, and child neglect or abuse (Kierkus & Baer, 2003). This is becoming a pressing social issue, as the divorce rates in Canada are extremely high. There were 71, 269 divorces alone in 2005 (Statistics Canada, 2005 b). Recently there have been a large number of studies trying to gain insight on risk factors that may predict later adolescent criminal behaviour. Although policy and social work have been implemented to support children and families in need, it is important to get a better understanding of what strategies can be developed to protect children from falling into a life of adult criminal behaviour. Marital disruption can be especially harmful for child development when the consequence is the child being raised by the parent of the opposite gender (Kierkus & Baer, 2003). As the majority of single-parent families are headed by females, many researchers have suggested that often boys are more affected by the breakdown of their family system. The opposite-parent hypothesis is 1 This research was conducted and this paper written for a course in Qualitative Research Methods in Criminology (Crim 321) offered at Simon Fraser University by Dr. Ted Palys. Copyright belongs to the author.