Daniel, In order to avoid sexist language (him or her) and avoid writing both pronouns, you have two options: 1- You can refer to both at the same time by writing "their" or "them." In the sentence above it would read: " . . . the factors that affected them well." Although it is a plural pronoun, native English speakers in the United States use the words "their" or "them" in place of "it," "him," and "her" since all of them are third person pronouns. 2- You can also use the word "one" as a third person pronoun without a gender. It is a formal usage, and might seem strange to some readers. It is used more by British English speakers than by American English speakers. It would change the sentence slightly to " . . . the factors that affected one." You asked a very good questions. I hope this explanation was helpful.

In Australia, we use 'them' or 'their' very often instead of him/her or his/her, even though it's technically supposed to refer to multiple people. This page might help you: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/he-or-she-versus-they For your sentence, I would say: it requires us to recognize the delinquent and the factors that affected them. In books, you do still often see either just 'he' OR 'she', but the default is no longer 'he'. I've even seen one paragraph use 'he', the next 'she' and then back to 'he' again for the next paragraph. You very rarely see 'he or she'. As already mentioned, affect is the verb, effect is the noun - many, many native English speakers still get this wrong so you're definitely alone :)

As Joel pointed out, it should say 'affected' instead of 'effected'. I always remember it by this: 'affect' is the verb, 'effect' is the noun. As far as him/her goes, I remember learning in school that when you don't know the gender you are supposed to default to the masculine. So it would be proper grammar to say him. I also learned a few years later in school that because that rule is apparently sexist, it's now considered okay to use the feminine as the default and you will see some formal writing in English in which 'she' and 'her' are used as the default pronouns. (Example: 'Every child has the right to reach her potential.') I think it's also acceptable to say 'him or her'. I don't think you're supposed to say 'him/her' with the /. (Example: 'Every child has the right to reach his or her potential.') I am not 100% sure about this but I do remember learning about this in school and that would be my instinct.

owh thank you joel

I believe the word you want is "affected," instead of "effected." They are commonly confused.