Theft in adolescence: a case study of a girl from a functional family

Abstract

Abstract The study focuses on the specific case of a girl with a significant experience of delinquency in early adolescence (13–15 years of age). The girl is from a functional family with no known predisposition to delinquency. Therefore, this case can be considered as deviant sampling. The study has a multidisciplinary overlap (psychology, criminology and social pedagogy). The IPA (interpretative phenomenological analysis) method was used to uncover the meanings that the participant attributes to the phenomena of delinquency. The results showed that the need for peer social acceptance was at the core of the case. The accompanying manifestation of delinquency was lying, which transcended theft. In late adolescence, the girl changed her strategy for gaining social acceptance and used her own ability to "empathically counsel" others. The results of this study evoke the creation of an evaluation study of an experimental educational program for adolescents from non-pathological backgrounds.