International Medical Journal Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 237 - 240, August 2015 237 PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE Family and Social Factors as Predictors of Drug Misuse and Delinquent Behavior in Juveniles Shridhar Sharma* 1’, Gautam Sharma23 * ’, Bristi Barkataki1* ABSTRACT Research suggests that children raised in supportive, affectionate and accepting home environment are less likely to become socially deviant. Consequently children rejected by parents are among the most likely to become delinquent. Negative family conditions and delinquent peers are seen as significant contributors in the development of drug misuse behavior. Understanding this complex relationship is important for prevention programs and policy makers. Objective: 1) To study the social and family factors in Juveniles admitted in a juvenile home in Delhi. 2) To correlate criminal behavior with the socio-familial surroundings of the juvenile. Materials and Methods: The research conducted is exploratory in nature. To achieve the objectives the study sample was col- lected from Prayas, a short stay home for juveniles under enquiry run by an NGO in Delhi. The information was obtained through a face-to-face, semi-structured interview of 487 juveniles under enquiry conducted by the social workers and the first author of this paper over a period of one year. Results: The use of opioid and inhalant start relatively at much younger age, while the use of cannabis and alcohol is more common after the age of 13 years. Greater the involvement in drug use, more serious is the involvement in delinquency, and vice versa. Family and social factors are good predictors of drug misuse and delinquent behavior. In the present study, positive cor- relation has been observed between juvenile criminal behavior and family history of crime (p = 0.005). Conclusion: The present study highlights the increasing trend of juvenile crime and drug misuse; its dependence on family and social factors which act as reliable predictors of drug misuse and delinquent behavior. The findings have significant impli- cation for developing preventive programs emphasizing more on family focused strategies. KEY WORDS social and family factors, drug misuse, juveniles INTRODUCTION According to UNICEF estimates of 2002, 100 million children live in the streets world over where India records the largest number of street children. Further, WHO estimates that about 90% of theses street chil- dren misuse some kind of drug. Globally the problem emerges as a sig- nificant Public Health threat to World's 30 to 100 million street chil- dren". The National Capital of India, Delhi with over 16 million popula- tions has approximately 100,000 street children and drug misuse is reported as a major health problem in this segment of population2'. South Asia is the home to 584 million children of which 330 million are living in poverty with poor access to social, educational and health sec- tors". These children are seen everywhere selling trinkets, picking rags, polishing shoes, working in vehicle repair shops, or serving food in small restaurants. Research confirms that children raised in supportive, affectionate and accepting home environment are less likely to become socially deviant and misuse drugs. Consequently children rejected by parents are among the most likely to become delinquent and misuse drugs. Family conditions, like broken family, drug misuse and criminal background of the family could be used as reliable predictors of drug misuse and socially deviant behavior among children. Association with delinquent peers is the next significant factor in the development of drug misuse behavior. Recent research concludes that protective factors increase the probability of favorable outcomes, but least among individ- uals with severe drug use"; hence, understanding the predictors of drug misuse and delinquent behavior is important for preventive programs and policy makers. Juveniles under enquiry are often victims of multiple abuses, including drug misuse. Although substance misuse among children in India has been documented for over a decade, volatile substance misuse (VSM) is a comparatively recent phenomenon5'. Benagal et al.(" assessed 281 children and reported that 197 children as users of illicit drugs out of which 76% were smoking tobacco, 45.9% were chewing it, 48% were using inhalants, 42% were using alcohol, 15.7% were into canna- bis addiction and 2% opioids. In the National Household survey of Drug Received on November 28, 2013 and accepted on September 8, 2014 1) National Academy of Medical Sciences & Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences Delhi, India 2) Department of Psychiatry, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital New Delhi, Inida 3) Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute New Delhi, India Correspondence to: Shridhar Sharma (e-mail: sharma.shridhar@gmail.com) (G) 2015 Japan Health Sciences University & Japan International Cultural Exchange Foundation