Alienation: a cause of juvenile delinquency

This research investigated differences in levels of alienation between incarcerated (n = 157) and nonincarcerated (n = 1,318) adolescents. It was hypothesized that incarcerated adolescents would have significantly higher levels of isolation, normlessness, powerlessness, and total alienation than would nonincarcerated adolescents. The Dean Alienation Scale, a global measure of alienation, was administered to all subjects. Results indicated that incarcerated adolescents had significantly higher levels of total alienation, isolation, and powerlessness. Given the high rates of recidivism, these results suggest that the reduction of both alienation and rejection of societal norms should be a major component of rehabilitation programs for incarcerated juvenile delinquents.     

Using integrated theory to explain the movement into juvenile delinquency

Research grounded in labeling, differential association, social learning, and social control theory provides useful information about various phases of the delinquency process. However, none of these theories accounts for the entire delinquency process. Recent work has demonstrated, for example, that social control theory may be more suitable for explaining initial delinquency, whereas labeling theory is more useful in explaining continued delinquency. This paper incorporates theoretical elements of labeling, differential association, social learning, and social control theories into a model that explains both initial and continued delinquency. Analysis of data from three waves of the National Youth Survey provides support for the model and shows that weakened social controls increase opportunities for associating with delinquent peers, learning delinquent behaviors, and committing initial delinquent acts. Initial delinquency increases the likelihood of being observed and negatively labeled by parents. These labels in turn increase the likelihood of future delinquency. These results lend support to arguments for integrated theory in the study of juvenile delinquency.     

Movies and juvenile delinquency: an overview

Film viewing may affect the juvenile delinquent through the processes known as social learning and instigation. Identification with the movie and its characters by the delinquent viewer is common, and studies have consistently demonstrated that films can affect delinquents, although in some cases the effects are small. Numerous examples of how films may serve as either the initiator or the final common pathway of delinquent acts are presented. However, prosocial aspects of films dealing with delinquency may exert a positive influence on the juvenile delinquent. Treatment implications of these observations are discussed from social learning and other perspectives.     

Schema theory: a critical appraisal and reevaluation

The authors critically review a number of the constructs and associated predictions proposed in schema theory (R. A. Schmidt, 1975). The authors propose that new control and learning theories should include a reformulated (a) notion of a generalized motor program that is not based on motor program but still accounts for the strong tendency for responses to maintain their relative characteristics; (b) mechanism or processes whereby an abstract movement structure based on proportional principles (e.g., relative timing, relative force) is developed through practice; and (c) explanation for parameter learning that accounts for the benefits of parameter variability but also considers how variability is scheduled. Furthermore, they also propose that new theories of motor learning must be able to account for the consistent findings spawned as a result of the schema theory proposal and must not be simply discounted because of some disfavor with the motor program notion, in general, or schema theory, more specifically.     

Family as a factor in delinquency

50 adjudicated delinquents were given academic and psychological tests and a self-report of delinquency according to the learning disability/delinquency study of the National Criminal Justice Service of 1980. 31 learning disabled delinquents were identified. The test of proportions compared learning disabilities in delinquent (n = 31) and nondelinquent (ns = 24 and 43) samples. The Mann-Whitney U test compared the reported number of categories of delinquent behavior in the three groups. A typical delinquent of this rural area tends to be a white male with average or above intelligence and a learning disability. His family is large; his parents are divorced. He comes from a poorer economic and cultural background. A dysfunctional family can be a center wherein delinquency grows; on the other hand, a strong family can nurture and protect when peers and school fail.     

Sex stereotypes and responses to juvenile delinquency

On the basis of our current knowledge of sex stereotypes and their influence on judgments about women and men, two conflicting hypotheses about reactions to delinquent behavior by men and women, or by boys and girls, can be put forward. First, because crime is mainly masculine, responsibility for criminal behavior will be more strongly attributed to a boy's nature than to a girl's, thereby leading to more severe punishment for boys. Second, deviations from a stereotype lead to negative evaluations, and thus should lead to harsher punishment for girls. The first study described, based on a field experiment with 709 adolescent and 403 adult subjects, was conducted to determine whether different sanctions were applied to boys and girls who engaged in identical delinquent behavior. The results show that for boys, more severe punishment was preferred for aggressive behavior, and for girls, more punishment for noncriminal delinquent behavior. In a second study (N=43), it was hypothesized that these differences in sanctioning corresponded with the degree of perceived masculinity of the delinquent behavior. This hypothesis was confirmed. A model shows how sex stereotypes about delinquent behavior lead to sex-related difference in attributions, which in turn lead to differences in punishment.     

Perceived parental acceptance and female juvenile delinquency

The responses of 62 adolescent females residing at a state training school and 62 high school females on a measure of perceived parental acceptance were compared while statistically controlling for mental age, chronological age, socioeconomic status, social desirability, and family structure. Generally significant (p less than .05) results indicate that incarcerated females viewed their mothers and fathers more negatively than did nonincarcerated females. Slightly more ambivalent results were indicated in the mother-daughter relationship (delinquent girls reported mothers to be more rejecting/neglecting than did nondelinquents, but no significant differences were found between the groups on perceived mother acceptance) than in the father-daughter relationship. Results were discussed in terms of reported parental differences in acceptance-nonacceptance, providing limited support for Ausubel's satellization theory of child development, and the difficulty of inferring causality from retrospective self-report studies using "captive" subjects.     

Containment in theory and practice

Abstract

This article selects the term ‘containment’ as a vehicle for an exploration of multi-professional work and communication in the general practice setting. The term was selected because of its widespread use by and relevance to the different professionals who work in general practice. It is sufficiently elastic to be applied to one-to-one work between patients and GPs, counsellors, nurses or complementary therapists, and to a multi-professional teamwork process.

The exploration of the concept in use at Marylebone Health Centre is complicated by the multi-professional nature of the team and then-wide range of belief systems and language groups. In the process of exploring the term, members of the team had to cope with their discovery that it was being used in contradictory ways. They decided that a new and more grounded definition in shared and ordinary (nonprofessional) language was needed, if the term were to become a vehicle for inter-professional collaboration and if unhelpful, anti-task social defences were to be minimised.     

Neuropsychiatric and experiential correlates of violent juvenile delinquency

This article reviews evidence regarding contributions of neuropsychiatric and psychological vulnerabilities to violent delinquency, and the interaction between intrinsic vulnerabilities and experiential factors in the genesis of antisocial juvenile behavior. Consideration is given to biochemical and physiological factors, genetics, medical status, and neurological, psychiatric, and neuropsychological factors. Implications for treatment are discussed.     

New data analysis of the stroop matching task calls for a reevaluation of theory

In Stroop matching tasks, participants indicate whether the color of an object matches the meaning of a color word printed in color. Previously in this journal, Luo (1999) concluded that interference between two incongruent representations of the same attribute (ink color) occurs prior to the response stage. However, this conclusion was based on questionable data analysis. We suggest analyzing the data by separating "same" and "different" responses and then analyzing three congruency conditions within the "different" responses: (a) congruence between word color and word meaning, (b) congruence between word color and object color, and (c) incongruence between word color, word meaning, and object color. In an experiment similar to Luo's, such an analysis revealed that responding was slowest in the first condition. This pattern of results does not fit with previous conclusions regarding this task, but rather indicates that task conflict and response competition contribute to interference. This analysis has implications for matching tasks other than the Stroop matching task.     

Facial attractiveness and juvenile delinquency among black and white offenders

Facial pictures of black and white delinquents were significantly less attractive than pictures of corresponding groups of high school students, as judged by same-race raters. Significant differences were found among the white delinquents, but not among the black, for Quay's four behavioral dimensions of delinquency. Black delinquents were significantly darker in skin color than the black high school students, and lightness of skin color was positively correlated with physical attractiveness ratings made by both black and white raters, indicating that neither race has yet assimilated the saying black is beautiful. This and other evidence suggest that facial attractiveness may be causal in delinquency.These studies were conducted with the cooperation of the staff of the Robert F. Kennedy Youth Center, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice. The center is not responsible for the contents of this report; the report does not necessarily represent the Center's views. The portion of this paper dealing with the white offenders was presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, Massachusetts, April 1972.The authors would like to thank Hayne W. Reese for his assistance.