Abstract

AMARIS MACIAS, María; AMAR AMAR, José  and  JIMENEZ ARRIETA, Myriam. Dinámica de las familias de menores con problemas psicosociales: el caso del menor infractor y la menor explotada sexualmente. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2005, vol.3, n.2, pp.141-174. ISSN 1692-715X.

This paper presents an analytical approach to the dynamics of families of children and teenagers who experience psychosocial problems like sexual exploitation and delinquency. The result of this work comes from confronting and integrating research processes on the families of those minors in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. In order to provide a contextual framework for the object of study, the authors center on the key concept of family structure, through which one may understand in what way those families are organized, the role of each one of its members, the clan hierarchy, the setting of limits, and the managing of individual and family growth. It is evidenced that one of the central characteristics of these families is that, in a majority of cases, they are simultaneously mono-parental and numerous; that is, they are constructed on the base of the existence of only one parental figure assumed by an adult or, on occasion, by a minor who fulfills that function, and, besides, they are formed by a relatively large group of individuals that includes grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren and resident acquaintances. In this way, the family system is characterized today by decomposition and disintegration, which provide obstacles to the build-up of communication channels, norms, limits and suitable affective relationships. This form of organization of family institutions bars the reconstitution of necessary personal and social tools that would allow human beings to develop in an integral way.

Keywords : family; family dynamics; children; adolescents; sexual exploitation; delinquency.

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