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Vandalism in the urban environment is a common phenomenon but is difficult to evaluate. The scale of damage caused by vandalism is rarely analyzed, and therefore a limited number of scientific works are devoted to the phenomenon of vandal behavior and the identification of its causes. While the role of the family in the formation of deviant behavior is indicated by many researchers, the context of vandalism and the issue of family determination remains open. This article studies the parents’ styles of upbringing and their preparation for teenagers’ vandal behavior. By identifying the degree of influence of the family in the formation of such a destructive form of interaction between teenagers’ and the material environment it is possible to identify a group of teenagers who are ready to commit acts of vandalism. An attempt is made to correlate child-parent relations with teenagers’ motivational readiness to commit acts of vandalism. To study the relationship of child-parent relations and teenagers’ vandal behavior, data was collected (using psycho-diagnostic techniques) from 60 teenagers and their parents from complete and incomplete families, the socially well-off and the socially disadvantaged. The results were processed using descriptive statistics, MANOVA and linear regression analysis. It was found that parental upbringing styles play a decisive role in initiating vandalism, while the educational effects of mother and father have their own specific characteristics. The results can be used in the organization of social support for children from socially disadvantaged families in order to prevent vandalism and its radicalization. © 2018, Kazan Federal University. All rights reserved.

Background. While the phenomena of intentional destroying and damaging of private property have been known since ancient times, the term "vandalism" appears only in 19th century. In the 20th century, much research devoted to vandalism was conducted in the spheres of criminology, sociology, psychology, and education. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to investigating the correlation between a child's propensity for vandalism and the child-parent relationship. Objective and Method. The main purpose of our research was to investigate the correlation between the styles of family upbringing and adolescents' propensity for vandalism. For this purpose, we analyzed the main predictors of adolescents' propensity for vandalism on the basis of the psychological diagnostics of 60 Russian families from Ekaterinburg. We investigated whether the fact that a child was brought up in a one-parent or disadvantaged family is significant for forming an adolescent propensity for vandalism. We also clarified the influence of various styles of family upbringing on an adolescent's propensity for vandalism of different types. Results. Based on statistical analysis, we concluded that an atmosphere of violence within the family plays a key role in forming adolescents' propensity for vandalism. The style of maternal upbringing has a greater influence on determining adolescent destructive behavior than the paternal, especially when the father's parenting style is "non-interference." Conclusion. Based on our research results, we suggest that preventive efforts against vandalism should be directed toward the prevention of family violence, and that there should be a differential approach toward parental education directed toward correcting individual parental styles of upbringing. © Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2018. №17–18–01278 This paper is based on research carried out with the financial support of a grant from the Russian Science F oundation (project №17–18–01278).