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.