According to my parents, I grew up as a well-behaved child throughout my primary school days. Upon entering secondary school, my attitude changed. My parents, older siblings, teachers, and peers all commented that I became a different person, one who was naughtier, more rebellious, and more aggressive. I wondered if this was due to puberty. Perhaps it was the negative peers I hung out with or the gang affiliation I was in for the most part of my life. When I was 15, I committed multiple thefts along with my “brothers”. We were one and had each other’s back. Eventually, I was arrested and thrown into Singapore’s Boys’ Home for 2 years. My wife suggested that the lack of attention from my parents was the cause of my criminal behavior.
According to sociologist Edwin Sutherland (1939) who proposed the differential association theory, an individual will engage in criminal behavior when the definitions that favor violating the law exceed those that do not. Here, an individual is most likely to be influenced by definitions provided by friends and family members. Learning deviant and criminal behaviors can occur with gang affiliation. Clearly, I was influenced by my gang members and learned from them – I perceived committing theft as ‘cool’, thrilling, and a demonstration that I was loyal to the gang. On closer reflection, a discussion of why I joined a gang is necessary.
Since young, my parents always compared me to my older brother and older
sister, both of whom excelled in their studies. My parents were constantly reminding me to emulate my older siblings and would chide me each time I did not do well on my tests and exams. Eventually, I made it to a good Secondary School. The pressure resumed when I was in Secondary 1; they constantly reminded me to do as well as my older siblings (if not better) for my O Levels. At 13, it was too much for me to manage academic anxiety, which is defined as “disruptive thought patterns and physiological responses and behaviors that follow from concern about the possibility of an unacceptably poor performance on an academic task” (Otten, 1991, p. 34).
While academic anxiety can be caused by a variety of factors, parental influence was the most significant in my life. Parents are frequently cited as the most influential agents of socialization throughout childhood (Strimaitiene & Kvieskaite, 2009). While I understand that they were probably going through parental anxiety of wanting me to be like my older siblings, it was unfortunate that the consequences of academic anxiety impacted me quickly. I started to feel withdrawn from school, grew frustrated and rebellious, and eventually fell into bad company. My gang members gave me the much-needed emotional respite I needed.
Take professional academic assistance & Get 100% Plagiarism free papers
- WE OFFER THE BEST CUSTOM PAPER WRITING SERVICES. WE HAVE DONE THIS QUESTION BEFORE, WE CAN ALSO DO IT FOR YOU.
- Assignment status: Already Solved By Our Experts
- (USA, AUS, UK & CA PhD. Writers)
- CLICK HERE TO GET A PROFESSIONAL WRITER TO WORK ON THIS PAPER AND OTHER SIMILAR PAPERS, GET A NON PLAGIARIZED PAPER FROM OUR EXPERTS
QUALITY: 100% ORIGINAL PAPER – NO PLAGIARISM – CUSTOM PAPER
Why Choose Us?
- 100% non-plagiarized Papers
- 24/7 /365 Service Available
- Affordable Prices
- Any Paper, Urgency, and Subject
- Will complete your papers in 6 hours
- On-time Delivery
- Money-back and Privacy guarantees
- Unlimited Amendments upon request
- Satisfaction guarantee
How It Works
- Click on the “Place Your Order” tab at the top menu or “Order Now” icon at the bottom and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
- Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER DETAILS” section.
- Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
- Click “CREATE ACCOUNT & SIGN IN” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
- From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
About AcademicWritersBay.com
AcademicWritersBay.com is an easy-to-use and reliable service that is ready to assist you with your papers 24/7/ 365days a year. 99% of our customers are happy with their papers. Our team is efficient and will always tackle your essay needs comprehensively assuring you of excellent results. Feel free to ask them anything concerning your essay demands or Order.
AcademicWritersBay.com is a private company that offers academic support and assistance to students at all levels. Our mission is to provide proficient and high quality academic services to our highly esteemed clients. AcademicWritersBay.com is equipped with competent and proficient writers to tackle all types of your academic needs, and provide you with excellent results. Most of our writers are holders of master’s degrees or PhDs, which is an surety of excellent results to our clients. We provide assistance to students all over the world.
We provide high quality term papers, research papers, essays, proposals, theses and many others. At AcademicWritersBay.com, you can be sure of excellent grades in your assignments and final exams.


