NCJ Number
148490
Journal
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines Volume: 28 Dated: (1987) Pages: 99-109
Date Published
1987
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from two studies of the degree of group involvement in delinquency among two samples of youths.
Abstract
The first data set was provided by a sample of 40 boys, aged 14 years and drawn from the third year of two city high schools in the east of Scotland. The catchment area for both schools was predominantly working class and lower middle- class. The measures used included a 74-item self-report inventory and the JEPQ (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1973). The JEPQ is an 80-item inventory with a true-false response format; it contains subscales for extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, as well as a lie scale. In the interview, subjects were asked of every delinquent activity in which they had participated whether it had always been alone, usually alone, usually with others, or always with others. The second data set was obtained from a separate sample of 149 boys and 141 girls, aged 13-16. The majority were of working class or lower middle class background, drawn from state high schools in the east of Scotland. Each subject completed a questionnaire composed of two sections. One section listed 24 offenses. The respondent indicated the activities in which he/she had been involved at any time in the previous 12 months. The second section listed the same activities but asked whether involvement had been always alone, usually alone, usually with others, or always with others. The findings show that although there may be particular forms of misconduct, usually trivial, that are more likely to be committed alone than in the company of others, there is no general category of delinquency that is predominantly solitary. Moreover, the first sample gave no support to the idea that solitary offenders are a distinct type. Findings also indicate that if group involvement in delinquency is typical for male adolescents, it is even more true of their female peers. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the role of the group context in delinquency. 5 tables and 37 references