NCJ Number
100235
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Dated: (1985) Pages: 201-210
Date Published
1985
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study tests the hypothesis that similar home environments will contribute to various behaviors in the children.
Abstract
A questionnaire was administered to 82 subjects with an average age of 20-21 years. Subjects were asked if they had committed one or more of a list of four offenses within the past year or while attending high school. Subjects also participated in a comprehensive testing program that determined childhood deviant behavior, perceptions of parents, subjects' psychological traits, psychophysiological data, and medical information. Factor analysis was used to relate the various subject psychological traits and criminal behaviors to perceptions of parents. Similar parental home conditions were associated with such diverse phenomena as juvenile delinquency, personality disturbances, learning disabilities, and psychiatric disorders. A working hypothesis relates some types of criminal behaviors and subject personality variables to particular perceptions of parents. The findings suggest that child development should be viewed as a continuous stimulus-response model in which parents and children present stimuli to each other in an interaction process that yields a particular behavioral and psychological result in the child. It also remains for research to explain why so many children raised in unfavorable home environments are law-abiding. Tabular data and 22 references.