By Amita Quenim

A story I heard this morning, said, there was a man who went to buy articles for the house and told the vendor, “I want only the best so give me only the best.” The vendor told him, “Sir anything you touch here is the best.”

This conversation went on till the man picked up what he was looking for and left. What do you gauge from this story? I would like to share with you what struck me. The best is in front of you, and do you still need to ask? Vegetables can be fresh or stale; milk can be cold or hot. Your intentions, your purpose and your vision, needs to be clear and timely. Is it the fault of the milk if it gets cold when you do not drink it in time? Perhaps, you have found your answer. Could you have avoided it?

Take for instance, two people who get married. They have kids, they are very happy, everything is honky dory. They have given their best to keep the kids on the right track. But what happens if suddenly they see their children exhibiting a deviant behaviour. In spite of personal and social attention, a substantial number of youth continue to display antisocial behavior. Could this have been avoided?

Antisocial behavior of youth is a reflection of decaying society. It is directly connected with a conduct problem and the harm done to the victim calls for an urgent need to understand and help such youth.

What are the reasons that lead youth to antisocial behavior? And what is the outcome on these youth as they grow into adults?

There are two pathways that lead to antisocial behavior. The first takes place when children engage in the wrong kind of behavior at an early age and continue the same in adulthood. In this case, antisocial behavior begins early because of subtle neuropsychological deficits which often also interfere with a child’s development of language, memory and self control, which results in various cognitive delays. This leads to conduct problems.

The second path is when antisocial behavior begins at the time of puberty and continues into adolescence. This group has better chances of being controlled with family support.

Antisocial behavior is described in four stages. The roots can be traced to sometimes antisocial parents, stressful parents, unskilled grandparents, parents with a history of substance abuse and child temperament. 

The symptoms of an antisocial child are low self esteem and poor discipline and monitoring. The child has a poor academic record, suffers from peer rejection, parental rejection and depression begins to set in. Later the child starts taking addictive substances and exhibits truant behavior. In the fourth and final stage which is adulthood, they experience disruptive marriages and a chaotic work career.

There is no single cause for antisocial behaviour. Even though conduct problems and antisocial behavior are not inherited, biologically based traits, such as a difficult temperament or impulsivity, may predispose children to develop these patterns of behavior. Other influential factors are neurobiological factors, social-cognitive factors which focuses on immature forms of thinking, family problems, which includes violence at home, lack of discipline and parental supervision and marital conflicts. And not to forget, cultural factors and the influence of the media.  

Four-years-old Rahul threw his toy car on his uncle’s face and it hit the man’s jaws. Rahul thought it was funny. Just a while ago, he was shouted at, for misbehaving at the table. His mother punished him by locking him in a room. After a while when she opened the door, Rahul ran to the table, picked up a fork and hurled it at his mother with all his force. She was hurt on the forehead. With anger she hit him hard and the boy started screaming and throwing things around. He then ran into another room and locked himself.

In another case Suraj, a 4-year-old child, was messing the table as he was having lunch. His mother shifted him to the sofa and started feeding him as he was watching the television. He took half-an-hour to finish just half the food served. In the same house her daughter who is 12-years-old returns from school, enters the house and throws her bag. Without washing her hands or changing or greeting anyone, she heads to the table and starts eating and talking to her friend on the cell. Her father enters, orders the servant to serve his food, and eats faster than an express train and rushes out of the house. Oh yes, he pats his daughter on her head but she does not care to acknowledge it. He also leaves but not before yelling in an abusive language at his servant.

It’s not too difficult to reason out what is wrong in this household.

From the legal perspective, conduct disorder or antisocial behavior are defined as delinquent or criminal acts. From a psychological perspective, conduct problems fall along a continuous dimension of externalising behavior which includes a mix of impulsive, overactive, aggressive and delinquent acts. From a psychiatric perspective, conduct problems are viewed as distinct mental disorders based on certain symptoms.

Antisocial behavior varies in severity, from minor disobedience to fighting. Certain antisocial behavior decreases with age, family support and professional help, whereas others increase with age and opportunity.

Are they avoidable? Yes, they all are.