Etiology of Delinquency - Functional Analyses of Value-Orientation Dimensions

• NCJ Number: 74143
• Journal: Corrective and Social Psychiatry and Journal of Behavior Technology Methods and Therapy Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: (1980) Pages: 193-199
• Author(s): P O Peretti
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The significance of parental influences on the socialization process of delinquent youths and the possibility of negative value orientations that diverge from those of society are examined in this comparison study of delinquent and nondelinquent boys.

Abstract

Physical, emotional, social and religious value orientations of 150 delinquent and nondelinquent boys (13 to 15 years old) were compared by means of forced-choice questionnaires administered to the delinquent boys by their counselors and social workers, and to nondelinquent boys in their high school. Their family situations, including marital status of parents, were also compared. The findings showed differences of value orientation between the delinquent and nondelinquent boys, between age-groups, and between those from stable or broken homes. The emotional value areas were not as significant for 13-year-old delinquent boys as they were for nondelinquents of that age. This could mean that family life, kinship ties, and affection might not be as positively prevalent in the lives of the delinquent boys, due to parents' marital status. The delinquent boys also chose the religious and social values as the least important, while the nondelinquent 13-year-olds chose physical values as the least important. For 14-year-olds, both delinquent and nondelinquent, emotional values were the most significant, probably due to the emotional vicissitudes of this age. However, this attitude was also characteristic for 15-year-old delinquents, while nondelinquents chose other values. This suggests that delinquent boys are fraught with emotional conflicts which might lead to frustration anxiety, and/or aggression as a response, instead of other, more acceptable outlets. Since the different orientations developed during the socialization process, strongly influenced by the family, prevention and treatment should concentrate on the resocialization of the delinquent youngsters into socially desirable value orientations, and the treatment should include the family as well. Discussion of various forms of therapy, tabular data, and references are included.