Social Change and the Interpretation of Research (From Historical Approaches to Studying Crime - Workshop Papers, 1979)

• NCJ Number: 91587
• Author(s): M E J Wadsworth
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 30 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examines a number of empirical analyses designed to identify various factors in criminality so as to explore the possibility that social values and prevalent concepts at the time of the research influence research conclusions.

Abstract

The first study reviewed examined the life experiences of a population of 5,362 persons from their birth in 1946 to the present day (the British National Survey of Health and Development). In examining the delinquency of persons in the cohort, official records were compared with data on health, personality, achievement, intelligence, school and home circumstances, and experience from both to age 15. The strongest associations with delinquency were found in data on family disruption, particularly divorce or separation of parents during the child's first 5 years. It is uncertain whether a relationship actually exists between delinquent behavior and a family event that occurred some years before or whether the researcher reached this conclusion because of the social values conditioning views of divorce at that time. To determine this, findings from the study might be compared with a similar study conducted on a population born 20 or 30 years later, when prevalent views of divorce have changed. The other studies reviewed bear upon the relationship between birth order and criminal behavior. Researchers before World War II concluded that a first-born child or an only child was more likely to become criminal because of excessive maternal affection being showered upon them (being 'spoiled'). This was at a time when being overly affectionate or attentive to a child was considered detrimental to child development. Studies after the war, on the other hand, concluded that middle and later-born children were more likely to become criminal because they had not received enough maternal attention. This conclusion was offered at a time when maternal affection and attention were considered essential for positive child development. Overall, this selective historic analysis of research findings suggests the importance of interpreting research findings in the context of cultural, social, and scientific concepts prevalent at the time and place of the research. Forty-four references are provided.