Relationship Between Learning Disabilities and Juvenile Delinquency

• NCJ Number: 75178
• Author(s): S L Swartz; S A Wall
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 27 pages
• Sale Source: Eric Document Reproduction Service
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Second Annual Conference on Severe Behavior Disorders of Children and Youth at Arizona State University on November 16-18, 1978, in Tempe, Arizona

Annotation

The paper reviews relevant research literature focusing on the relationship between delinquency and learning disabilities and reports the preliminary results of a study exploring the importance of social class indicators to the learning disabilities/juvenile delinquency relationship.

Abstract

The literature review suggests that the question of a causal relationship between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency is unresolved. To investigate the differences between learning disabled and normal delinquent and nondelinquent juveniles, a study was conducted which examined 49 high school students, age 14 to 18, who were assigned to one of the four following groups: delinquent and learning disabled, nondelinquent and learning disabled, delinquent and normal, or nondelinquent and normal. Each student received an individual psychological examination exploring such social class indicators as occupation, education and income levels, presence of both parents in the home, music listening preference, family size, frequency and type of family vacation, ownership and value of family dwelling, religious preference, and participation in school functions. The statistical analysis indicated that no significant differences exist between the learning disabled/delinquent and learning disabled/nondelinquent juveniles, suggesting that the groups are similar in social status. In contrast, significant differences were observed between normal/nondelinquent students and disabled students as well as between normal nondelinquent students and delinquent students. The differences found were mainly in the areas of occupation, education, and income. It was concluded that socioeconomic class, as represented by selected social class indicators, may be related to learning disabilities and to juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, learning disabled students are more alike in social class status to delinquent students than to regular students. Forty-five references, three tables, and two figures are included in the paper.