Conflicting worlds of meaning: Juvenile delinquency in 19th century Manchester

Until recently historians and sociologists tended to view juvenile delinquency within the context of subcultural theory. This was often supported by evidence taken from contemporary sources. A closer and more skillful reading of the evidence suggests that juveniles fluctuated between normative values and those of the sub‐culture of delinquency (as stated by Matza). Also they were seen by adults within a conflicting paradigm as objects of contempt on one hand and young innocents in need of care and protection on the other.     

Juvenile delinquency as acting out: Emotional disturbance mediating the effects of parental attachment and life events

Previous research has shown that high quality parent-adolescent attachments are negatively associated with juvenile delinquency, while stressful life events are positively related to this form of externalizing problem behaviour. Instead of testing only these direct relationships, the present study examined a model in which emotional disturbance would mediate the effects of parental attachment and life stress on delinquency. Data were used from a national representative sample of 568 adolescents aged 15?–?19, who had participated in the second (1994) and third (1997) wave of an ongoing longitudinal survey. Multiple regression and LISREL analyses showed that emotional disturbance significantly predicted subsequent delinquent behaviour, and that emotional disturbance mediated the effects of parental attachment and life stress.     

Possible selves and delinquency

The relationship between possible selves and delinquency is explored. In this study, 238 youths between the ages of 13-16 who varied in the degree of their delinquency were asked to describe their possible selves. Although many similarities were found among their hoped-for selves, the groups of youth differed markedly in the nature of their expected and feared selves. The balance between expected possible selves and feared possible selves was the particular focus. Balance is hypothesized to occur when expected possible selves are offset by countervailing feared selves in the same domain (e.g., expecting a job, but fearing being unemployed). It was found that the officially nondelinquent youths were quite likely to display balance between their expectations and fears, unlike the most delinquent youth. In contrast, a conventional measure of self-esteem that indicates how people feel about themselves currently did not predict degree of delinquency.     

Family size and delinquency

A review of the literature shows that large family size is related to greater delinquency. The relationship remains when a number of variables, i.e., income, socioeconomic status, parental criminality, and family composition, have been controlled. The higher birth rate for lower classes does not appear to be an adequate explanation for this relationship, nor does less close parent-child affectional ties or less parental supervision although all of these may have some influence. The presence of an "infectious example" may partly account for the relationship, as does overcrowding. Large family size is typically associated with the constellation of undesirable family conditions involving poor role models (e.g., poor parental behaviour, parental criminality, sibling delinquency), poor child-rearing practices (e.g., inadequate parental supervision and discipline), and competition for physical (e.g., overcrowding, low income) and psychological (e.g., lack of attention, affection, family interaction) resources. An immediate solution is to reduce the size of families by helping prospective parents plan their families, and for those who wish it, making medical abortions more readily available. The long-range solution is through research to identify variables which significantly influence the relationship between family size and delinquency. Such studies must control for birth order, sibling spacing, siblings' sex, and sex of the delinquents in these families.     

Self-concept and delinquency proneness

Contrary to the theory of the homeostatic model of self-concept, i.e., the expectancy that engaging in anti-social or pro-social behavior results typically in shifts in the self-concept (Graf, 1968; Deitz, 1970 shifts did not occur. Subjects, 12- 14-year-old boys enrolled in junior high school, delinquent prone (DP) and non-delinquent prone bright (NDPB), reacted to manipulation by engaging in reparative behavior as indicated via an aggression module in a fashion generally expected but the expected shift from chronic self-images did not occur. Both DP and NDPB viewed themselves similarly on self concept. The authors postulated that if shifts would occur for the delinquent prone it would be after they left school with its accompanying identification with a sub-culture outside the school setting.     

Neuropsychological perspectives on delinquency

Neuropsychological studies of delinquents have revealed characteristic deficits in skills that require verbal mediation, conceptual integration, impulse control, anticipation of consequences of actions, and the utilization of feedback from behavior to modify maladaptive response patterns. Formulations of this impairment pattern in terms of frontal lobe and left hemisphere dysfunction are reviewed. The role of verbal mediation in the development of a stable personality and the capacity for self-control is discussed. It is proposed that the neuropsychodynamic profile of the delinquent is dominated by an inability to form a self-referential conceptual classification system and that this predisposes to behavioral disinhibition under conditions of stress or interpersonal conflict. The relationship between language development, moral cognition, and social behavior is examined and therapeutic and dispositional implications are discussed. Finally, the general role of neuropsychological models in personality and social theory is addressed.     

Lay theories of delinquency

This paper is concerned with the range, structure and determinants of lay people's implicit theories of delinquency. The different explicit psychological and sociological theories were reviewed as were studies on lay beliefs about crime and delinquency. After pilot interviews in which people were asked to list what they believed to be the major causes of delinquency, over 350 people completed a questionnaire in which they rated 30 explanations for their importance in explaining delinquency. The results showed numerous sex, age and voting differences. Conservatives tended to blame a person's poor education for his or her delinquency, while Labour voters tended to explain delinquency in terms of societal factors. A factor analysis revealed six clear explanation types for delinquency some of which were clearly related to explicit theories. Results were discussed in terms of the psychology of explanations and the relationship between explicit and implicit theories. Implications of this research were also noted.     

Ministers' attitudes toward delinquency

Conclusion An effective ministry to youth offenders depends greatly on our attitudes toward them. Working with them on any personal basis requires attitudes that help prepare us to be accepting, understanding, friendly, and firm.Indispensable also is a community-mindedness that frees us to be ecumenical rather than parochial in our concern and outreach. And this community-mindedness also leads us to utilize the agencies and programs that seek to help young people and prevent delinquency.The author expresses grateful acknowledgment to Dr. Paul E. Johnson, Dr. Daniel J. Levinson, and Dr. Donald T. Devine who contributed to the study on which this article is based.