Anxiety and locus of conflict in delinquents

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) and the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS) were administered to 54 juvenile delinquents (27 males, 27 females). Ratings on locus of conflict were also obtained. The STAIC A-State scale was significantly correlated with internalization but not with externalization or the total maladjustment index. Neither A-Trait nor the anxiety portion of the CMAS was correlated with locus of conflict. All measures of anxiety were significantly correlated with each other. Boys were rated as more internal, external, and maladjusted than girls despite the fact that girls reported more subjectively experienced anxiety.     

未成年人归因的内隐特征与攻击行为

本研究使用投射法这一内隐社会认知的研究方法,考察了朱成年人罪犯群体与正常群体的攻击行为内隐社会认知过程的特征,结果表明：整体上而言,未成年人罪犯群体与正常群体的内隐归因方式存在显著差异,罪犯的内控程度要低于常人的内控程度。从而得出罪犯产生攻击性犯罪行为的原因之一是他们的归因存在偏差,支持了攻击行为成因的归因模型。未成年人男女两性在内隐的内外控方面不存在显著差异,且结果提示归因方式与女性罪犯的攻击行为没有必然联系。     

Effective group work with delinquents in Hong Kong

The principle of matching services to needs suggests that group work would be most effective when it targets those most in need of the services--delinquents with low involvement with the family and high involvement with friends. Less time with the family indicates a greater need for conventional social control, while more time with friends may entail a greater need for learning social skills in order to resist delinquent peer influences. To address these needs, developmental group work is appropriate for delinquents identified by social workers. The effectiveness of services tend to be contingent upon the delinquents' relationship with family and friends. To test this hypothesis, the present study collected data from 190 delinquents in Hong Kong. It was found that developmental group activities were beneficial to delinquents who spent less time with family and/or more time with friends. For delinquents in general, developmental group activities were helpful in diminishing delinquency. Moreover, the help was significantly greater for delinquents who spent more time with friends.     

Delinquency and Jesness Inventory Scores

Investigated validity implications of the Jesness Inventory for institutionalized male adolescent delinquents. This population showed deviant mean T scores on this inventory's Asocial Index (69.5) and on its Social Maladjustment (65.2) subscale. Scores on 4 of the 10 subscales, Social Maladjustment, Value Orientation, Autism, and Manifest Aggression, correlated positively (p less than .0001) with both frequency of prior arrests and number of previous institutionalizations. This pattern of significant relationship is consistent with research reported in other studies and it was concluded that the present results provide additional support for the research and diagnostic uses of this instrument in assessing adolescent social maladjustment.     

The Rosenzweig picture-frustration study as a measure of reaction to personal Evaluation

The P-F Study was given to three groups of incarcerated delinquents categorized as to parole evaluation status. The hypothesis tested was that those Ss who were being evaluated for parole would give significantly fewer extrapunitive (E) responses than matched Ss who were not being evaluated for parole. Statistical analyses of the data supported the hypothesis.

It was suggested that the probability of external reinforcement may be a basic determinant of responses to the P-F Study and perhaps to projective tests generally.     

父母行为控制、心理控制与高中生消极社会适应的关系：人际自立和校园排斥的序列中介作用

基于自我决定理论和人与环境互动理论,研究考察了父母行为控制、心理控制与高中生消极社会适应的关系,以及人际自立与校园排斥的中介效应。采用父母控制问卷、青少年人际自立量表、青少年校园排斥问卷、消极社会适应问卷对辽宁省3所中学的1209名高中生进行施测。结果发现:(1)父母行为控制对高中生消极社会适应无明显预测作用,心理控制对消极社会适应具有正向预测作用;(2)人际自立和校园排斥在父母控制与消极社会适应之间发挥中介作用。具体而言,父母行为控制只能通过人际自立的单独作用以及人际自立与校园排斥的序列中介作用预测高中生消极社会适应;父母心理控制既能直接预测消极社会适应,还能分别通过人际自立和校园排斥的单独作用,以及人际自立与校园排斥的序列中介作用预测高中生消极社会适应。研究最终梳理出一条“父母教养→人格发展→人际反馈→适应结果”的理论作用机制。     

techniques of neutralization and self-esteem: a critical test of social control and neutralization theory

Sykes and Matza argued that delinquents use techniques of neutralization to enable themselves to engage in behavior they believe is wrong under most circumstances. One function of using these techniques is that the individual is able to protect his or her self-concept while committing delinquent acts. This implies that delinquent youth who use these techniques should have higher levels of self-esteem than delinquents who do not use them. Because Sykes and Matza hold that neutralization is necessary because of the delinquents ties to conventional society, this effect should be stronger among delinquent youth who are more strongly attached to their parents. In contrast, Hirschis social control theory predicts that delinquents who are able to maintain a bond to conventional society should be less likely to neutralize, but if they do neutralize, they should be unable to sufficiently convince themselves of the validity of the neutralizations to protect self-esteem. These hypotheses are tested using data from the Richmond Youth Survey. The results differed depending on whether general neutralizations or neutralizations regarding the police were analyzed. Children who are attached to their parents are less likely to use police-related neutralizations, but delinquents who use these neutralizations have higher self-esteem, consistent with neutralization theory. Delinquents who are more strongly attached to their parents are also less likely to use general neutralizations, but these neutralization techniques do not lead to higher levels of self-esteem, consistent with control theory.     

The relationship between arousal and positive self-presentation

Investigated the validity of the hypothesis that subjects would experience arousal if they received information suggesting that they were presenting themselves to others in a negative manner. Twenty-seven subjects were randomly assigned to a control, evaluation apprehension, or negative feedback group. Subjects' heart-rate was continuously monitored as subjects' rated a series of photographs. Subjects in the evaluation apprehension group were given a cue as to how to present themselves positively whereas subjects in the negative feedback group were told, following their response to the 15th photograph, that their responses suggested maladjustment. Heart-rate change above a baseline measure revealed that an increase in heart-rate occurred only when subjects were informed that they were transmitting negative information. Such a finding supports a positive self-presentation explanation of subject motives in the psychological experiment.     

Adolescence-limited versus persistent delinquency: extending Moffitt's hypothesis into adulthood.

The authors examined how neuropsychological, personality, and environmental risk factors and their interactions were related to trajectories of delinquent behavior from adolescence to adulthood. Four waves of longitudinal data from 698 male participants, ages 12-18 at Time 1 and ages 25-31 at Time 4, were included in the analyses. Using a growth mixture model approach, 4 trajectories were identified: nondelinquents, adolescence-limited delinquents, adolescence-to-adulthood-persistent delinquents, and escalating delinquents. Five risk factors distinguished escalating from persistent delinquents and 5 also distinguished nondelinquents from the 3 delinquency trajectories. Persistent delinquents scored significantly higher than adolescence-limited delinquents on only one risk factor, disinhibition. Overall, few of the factors that are related to childhood-to-adolescence persistence were associated with persistence in delinquency beyond adolescence.     

Adolescent verbal behavior

This investigation assessed the relationship of race and delinquent status with the noncontent verbal behavior of adolescent males. A standardized videotape interview was used to ensure consistent stimulus presentation. Sixteen white and sixteen black delinquents were compared with equal numbers of nondelinquents on the noncontent verbal measures of total time (performance time), units (frequency), and latency. It was predicted that nondelinquents would be more verbal than delinquents and whites would be more verbal than blacks. No racial differences were found. Delinquents, however, were found to talk significantly less than nondelinquents and to have significantly longer verbal latencies. Discussion of these results centered on the verbal demand characteristics of certain settings, such as classrooms and court hearings.     

Human Figure Drawing Indices of Sexual Maladjustment in Male Felons

Two figure drawing characteristics (the presence of nudity and drawing the opposite-sex figure first) purported to reflect sexual maladjustment were shown to be positively related to each other in a population of 1,000 male felons. Adult felons drew the male figure first significantly less frequently than did normal adults, adolescent delinquents and most other populations studied, and thus apparently have greater problems in establishing a masculine sexual identification. The presence of nudity in figure drawings is less common in the adult felon group than in the adolescent delinquent group. There was no relationship between the variables of type of criminal offense, ethnic group, age, intelligence, MMPI Mf score and sex of the first-drawn figure.     

The reaction of adolescent offenders and nonoffenders to nonverbal emotion displays

Adolescent male offenders and nonoffenders were compared on two tasks designed to assess reactions to the nonverbal emotion expressions of others. It was found that the offender group was less accurate in labeling another's emotion states but that this difference was apparently a function of verbal intelligence. Further, the remits of the second task, a task not related to verbal intelligence, indicated that the punitive decisions of both the offender and nonoffender groups were similarly affected by the actors' nonverbal emotions. These results were discussed as indicating that much of the social insensitivity often ascribed to delinquents may simply be a result of impoverished verbal skills among this group. A deficit in verbal skills may preclude delinquents from adequately describing their perceptions of the emotional reactions of others and it may also necessitate a nonverbal, rather than verbal, reaction to others' emotions.This study was supported by grant MH25889, National Institute for Mental Health, Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency. All statements contained in this report are the opinions of the authors and do not represent official opinions or attitudes of the granting agency. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Dr. Paul Aleksic, Mr. Virgil Brandt, and Mr. Richard Kramer for their assistance and advice.     

Punishments adolescents find justified: an examination of altitudes toward delinquency

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescents' attitudes toward delinquency, specifically the degree to which they find norm violations acceptable in various circumstances. A total of 1,914 Dutch youths participated: 1,046 reported having committed no crimes in the past year, 578 reported having committed only nonviolent offenses, and 290 reported having committed both violent and nonviolent offenses. It was hypothesized that, in general, delinquents would prescribe less severe punishments for deviant behavior, irrespective of the circumstances. This hypothesis was rejected. It was found, however, that violent delinquents were significantly more tolerant of violent behavior as compared with nondelinquents, with one important exception: when injury was inflicted on someone they knew, they were as little inclined to excuse the perpetrator as were nondelinquents. Violent delinquents discriminated most strongly between friends and strangers as both victims and perpetrators.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN INTERNAL BELIEFS ABOUT WEIGHT AND NEGATIVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS SELF AND OTHERS

Previous research has found that people with an internal weight locus of control (beliefs in self-control over weight) are more likely to join and stay in weight-loss programs and have higher self-esteem than those who have an external locus of control (e.g., belief that weight is due to luck, genes). There has been no research on how weight locus of control affects the self-esteem of people who are not average weight or not satisfied with their weight. The present study predicted that for people who are overweight, weight locus of control would be negatively related to self-esteem. The results confirmed this interaction between weight locus of control and weight on self-esteem for women, but not for men. The second prediction was that internal weight locus of control would have negative social consequences in terms of greater negative stereotyping of obese people, and this was also confirmed for women. Because weight loss is rarely permanent, it would seem important to change people's attitudes about the lack of control that they (and others) have over body weight.     

The female sexual delinquent]

Among 371 adult sexual delinquents, there were only 14 women. From a total of 16 female sexual delinquents, 9 were feeble-minded, 4 mentally disabled, 3 were physically disabled, and almost all were uneducated and solitary people. The personality was distinguished by emotional disturbances, unsteadiness, impulsiveness, and often anti-social behaviour. Only in the cases of incest between brother and sister were cases of inhibited female character discovered. Among others, 3 cases of sexual crimes against children, and one case of probable fetishism are presented. Traditional moral inhibitions, passivity and an extensive lack of aggressiveness in the sexual behavior of woman, together with a stronger mental link between eroticism and sexuality than with the male, are seen as the main causes for the low figure of female sexual delinquents.     

On Being Responsible and Holding Responsible

A number of philosophers have recently argued that we should interpret the debate over moral responsibility as a debate over the conditions under which it would be “fair” to blame a person for her attitudes or conduct. What is distinctive about these accounts is that they begin with the stance of the moral judge, rather than that of the agent who is judged, and make attributions of responsibility dependent upon whether it would be fair or appropriate for a moral judge to react to the agent in various (negative) ways. This is problematic, I argue, because our intuitions about whether and when it would be fair to react negatively to another are sensitive to a host of considerations that appear to have little or nothing to do with an agent’s responsibility or culpability for her attitudes or behavior. If this is correct, then theories which make attributions of responsibility dependent upon the appropriateness of our reactions as moral judges will turn out to be fundamentally misguided. I am grateful to Barbara Herman, T. M. Scanlon, and two anonymous reviewers for The Journal of Ethics for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I am also grateful to Pamela Hieronymi and the members of her Fall 2201 graduate seminar on moral responsibility at UCLA, and to the audience members at Simon Fraser University, for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this material. My biggest debt of gratitude goes to Jean Roberts, for stimulating discussion and insightful commentary on multiple drafts of this paper.     

The family relations of female juvenile delinquents

This study evaluated the assumption that the family relations of female delinquents are more dysfunctional than those of male delinquents. In a 2 × 2 (gender by delinquency status) design, 32 intact families were matched on demographic variables, and the male and female delinquents were matched on arrest data. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents were administered a selfreport personality inventory and were observed during a family interaction task. Consistent with the extant literature, families of delinquents had low rates of facultative information exchange and delinquent adolescents were more dominant toward their mothers than were well-adjusted adolescents. It was also observed that fathers of delinquents were more dominant toward their wives than were fathers of well-adjusted adolescents. In regard to the primary purpose of the study, it was observed that mother-adolescent dyads and parents in families of female delinquents had higher rates of conflict than their counterparts in families of male delinquents. In addition, the fathers of female delinquents were more neurotic than the fathers of male delinquents. These findings provide some support for the view that the families of female deliquents are especially dysfunctional.This research was supported by funding to the Department of Psychology at Memphis State University granted through the Centers of Excellence Program of the State of Tennessee. We gwratefully appreciate the cooperation of Judge Kenneth Turner of Memphis Juvenile Court, and of George Relyea, who has provided statistical consultation over the years.     

QUANTITATIVE MEASURES OF CONSTRUING IN CHILD ABUSE SURVIVORS

Quantitative aspects of construing associated with long-term effects of abusive childhood experiences are examined within a personal construct theory framework. Indices of negative self-construing, reduced identification with others, and extreme construing are compared from the elicited Repertory Grids (RepGrids) of survivors of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and nonabused controls (N = 336). Responses to the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) are also compared, as a further measure of negative self-constructions. Abuse histories are particularly associated with RepGrid and ATQ measures of negative self-constructions and with RepGrid measures of perceived differences between self and parents. Among cognitive and construct measures, the ATQ is most strongly related to standardized measures of symptom distress and social maladjustment, but RepGrid measures also make a unique contribution. From the RepGrid, extreme perceptions of self are related to symptom distress and social maladjustment, and self-ideal discrepancy is related to social maladjustment. Shared method variance and standardized statements specifically relevant to self-evaluation and pathology may contribute to the predictiveness of the ATQ. In contrast, the RepGrid samples a more general range of idiographic constructs used in comparing people.     

The relationship between adolescent attitudes towards authority, self-concept, and delinquency

Attitudes towards authority of youth and adults have been investigated in recent years in a number of Western countries. The present research focused on attitudes towards institutional authority among three groups of adolescents: nondelinquents, noninstitutionalized delinquents, and institutionalized delinquents. Relationships with self-concept were also investigated. It was found that attitudes towards parents, teachers, police, and the law were, in general, positive. Nondelinquents' attitudes were more positive than those of delinquents.     

Being and Feeling Unique: Statistical Deviance and Psychological Marginality

ABSTRACT Two studies tested the hypothesis that people with culturally stigmatized and concealable conditions (e.g., gays, epileptics, juvenile delinquents, and incest victims) would be more likely to feel unique than people with culturally valued or conspicuous conditions (e.g., the physically attractive, the intellectually gifted, the obese, and the facially scarred). In Study 1, culturally stigmatized individuals with concealable conditions were least likely to perceive consensus between their personal preferences and those of others. In Study 2, they were most likely to describe themselves as unique and to make these self-relevant decisions quickly. Marginality is a psychological reality, not just a statistical one, for those with stigmatized and concealable "master status" conditions.