NCJ Number
84244
Journal
Social Defence Volume: 17 Issue: 66 Dated: (October 1981) Pages: 5-11
Date Published
1981
Length
7 pages
Annotation
An Indian study shows that delinquents tend to have a negative view of their parents while nondelinquents have positive parental images.
Abstract
The delinquents aged 13-16, institutionalized on charges of absconding, wandering, and ticketless traveling, and a matching control group of nondelinquents with parents of socioeconomic backgrounds similar to the subjects in the experimental group were administered tests. The Family Attitude Test (Jackson, 1966) presented seven pictures to both groups depicting different family contexts likely to arouse basic emotions and experiences. Stories about the pictures were elicited from experimental and control group members. The parental images of the delinquents were marked by lack of sufficient love and care, as they are portrayed as threatening and punishing or cold and permissive. Although the control group stories portray parents as punishing, the punishment is not harsh and is viewed as corrective. Relationship between parents is generally disharmonious in the view of delinquents while the control subjects generally view the parental relationship as harmonious. Other similar studies report differing parental images among aggressive delinquents (rejecting father and loving mother), suggesting that differing perceptions of family patterns are associated with differing delinquency patterns. Tabular data and 11 references are provided.