NCJ Number
101679
Date Published
1985
Length
157 pages
Annotation
This 1983 followup study of a 1956 'clientele study' of juvenile criminals in Stockholm, Sweden, reports that an individual's future social adjustment cannot be predicted, but a group of juveniles at high risk of future social maladjustment can be identified.
Abstract
The 1956 study focused on 192 boys with known criminal records and 95 nondelinquent boys matched for age, social group, and family type. The subjects were born between 1939 and 1953 and were 11-15 years old at the time of the study. The analyses also included 222 Stockholm boys representing the general population and 100 boys treated at an institution for children with severe behavioral disorders. Some 2,000 variables for each boy covered criminal and social data, skills, abilities, and psychological characteristics. This report presents some of the results from stage one of the followup study, which consisted of an analysis of official records for subjects over the years prior to the followup. Stage two will consist of interviews with the subjects. Predictions were accurate for the extremes of the population, i.e., those with extremely good prognoses and those with extremely poor prognoses. The psychiatric and sociopsychological indicators revealed groups with high risk of social maladjustment. The psychological prognosis based on the Adolescent Apperception Test was more successful at identifying a small group of persons with a good prognosis than were other tests. For a summary of the report, see NCJ 101679. 31 data tables, 28 references, and 16 appendixes presenting methodological details and additional results.