Activity of Institutions and Organizations in the Domain of Organized Leisure Time Activities and the Growth of Antisocial Behaviors (From Loisirs - une des mesures de prevention de la delinquance juvenile, P 109-126, 1976, Alice Parizeau, ed - See NCJ-70512)

• NCJ Number: 70518
• Author(s): E Tochowicz
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: French
• Country: Canada

Annotation

Polish institutions, particularly the school and organized youth associations, should try to improve their extracurricular activities and adapt their programs to youths' interests so as to prevent delinquency.

Abstract

A study was conducted of 119 students from schools where delinquent activity and vandalism was evident and of 106 students from schools where such activity was not frequently observed. In both kinds of schools organizations such as the Union of Polish Scouts, the League of Defense, and the Polish Red Cross were involved along with other after-school and extracurricular activities. The study looked at the kinds of activities to which the two groups of youths were most accustomed and which they most preferred. The attitudes of youths in both groups regarding students who were suspected or known to be delinquent were also probed. The data showed that the organizations and the schools were not able to fulfill their functions as providers of leisure time activities that attract youths and retard the growth of antisocial behavior. Correlation was noted between the youth's lack of participation in such organizations and extracurricular activities and the acceptance of antisocial attitudes. Youths who were most negative toward the delinquent profile seemed to enjoy a mixed model of leisure time activities, involving themselves in sports, reading, artistic pursuits, gathering with friends, and going to movies; generally, these students also had more parental control over their leisure hours. One of the reasons many students did not participate in after-school programs provided by youth organizations was that the activities offered did not particularly interest them. Among interests most often expressed and not found in the programs were poetry, electronics, politics, tennis, psychology, sculpture, agriculture, and stamp and coin collecting. Institutions should take note of these student interests and attempt to accommodate them, while also being more flexible in adjusting to students' time schedules. More encouragement and information about such leisure time activities is also needed. Overall, more activities should be developed and more friendly relationships between program providers and receivers should be cultivated. --in French.