The Family: We may discuss environmental factors in two parts—‘within the family' and outside the family'. Of course, these two cannot be put into separate compartment since there is a constant interplay among their influences on each other, on the one hand, and on the physical, mental and emotional states of the individual, on the other. Family is the first crucial group in the life of the child. No one can say at birth that a child will inevitable become a delinquent nor can it be said that it will inevitably remain a law-abiding individual. Family is the first agency to nurture a child's social and personal growth. Within the family lie tremendous forces for producing or presenting antisocial behaviour. This is because it has almost exclusive contact with the child during the period of greatest dependency, which lasts several years. From a warm, loving, stable family, the child learns that people are friendly, worth knowing, and can be depended upon. When a family is cold, rejecting, or neglectful, the child learns distrust, hostility, or hatred of people. ‘Under-the-roof' family situation and relationships can have many ‘interacting' aspects. These are involved in the formation of a cumulative atmosphere, which may affect the behaviour of the child one way or the other. Take for example the broken home, which may have been caused by death, desertion, or divorce/separation. Mother and father are generally considered two wheels of a family cart which cannot move smoothly when either of them is removed or relations between them are damaged. There is a strong belief that broken family tends to rear children with sick personalities. Sick personalities have unusual difficulty confirming to social rules. A number of investigators have pointed towards the high incidence of structural breaks in the family backgrounds of delinquent youths.

Structural Breaks in the Family: Structural break in the family, except in case of death, is always seen to be receded by daily parental quarrels. Much tension and disruption of peaceful living have quite a traumatic effect on the children. In some circumstances, the break in the family may, at times, improve the home atmosphere. Thus, the interpersonal conditions of family relationships are very important. In disharmonious families, children too often get ‘pushed' from home because of these disturbances. They have to seek outside contacts for resolving feelings of insecurity and frustration, rather than being ‘pulled' by outside attractions. Through the years, perhaps, one of the most frequently heard causes of delinquency and crime is parental inadequacy, in their role of bringing up children. Socialisation is the process through which the child becomes aware of the basic values of his society and acquires the attitudes characteristic of it. Early family training influences strongly the inculcation of these values. The growing child must learn which action is permitted, which prohibited, and why. It must learn how to get along with others, children and adults. Depending upon the patterns of disciplining and guiding an also the role models at home, the child will learn to handle the pressures and responsibilities of growing up inside and outside the home. Mother nature, not doubt, has helped a lot by providing, in most instances, an affectionate bond between parents and the child. However affection alone is not enough to influence the conduct of children in a wholesome way. Affection has to be backed up by consistent control and appropriate disciplining efforts. When the parents are inconsistent in behaviour the child feels very insecure. This is because he or she never knows how his parents are going to react to what he does. He or She finds that they are at times angry, sometimes interested and other times disinterested, he or she is completely confused. His or Her problems are still more when each parent reacts in a completely contradictory manner, or when one condones, and the other punishes with undue harshness.

Child Care and Delinquency: Working mothers have often been blamed on the assumption that a young child needs the mother's constant attention to assure its proper emotional and physical development. This becomes very difficult when she is away for a substantial part of the day and returns with nervous and physical exhaustion. Additionally, in adolescent years when supervision becomes more essential, maternal employment reduces its effectively thereby unduly exposing them to unhealthy influences. However, the evidence available does not conclusively show significant relationship between delinquency and the mother being at work. What is important is not the employment of the mother but the lack of supervision. If the mother remains at home but does not keep track of her child he/she is far more likely to become delinquent than if she is away but has made arrangement for supervision by an acceptable substitute. Actually, a working mother's economic contribution can be an integrating and stabilizing influence in the family. It may mean a desire for providing greater family security, continued education of children, a summer vacation, or any of a number of things thought to be of benefit to all members of the family.