NCJ Number
54368
Date Published
1978
Length
158 pages
Annotation
THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING ADOLESCENTS CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND REDUCTION SKILLS ARE EXAMINED IN THIS STUDY OF 77 DELINQUENT BOYS INCARCERATED AT LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN SCHOOL, GOLDEN, COLO.
Abstract
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO TEACH CONFLICT CONCEPTS AND CONFLICT REDUCTION SKILLS TO INCARCERATED JUVENILES TO DETERMINE THE FOLLOWING: (1) THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INSTRUCTION, (2) WHETHER PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS DIFFER AMONG HIGH LEVEL AND LOW LEVEL MATURITY JUVENILES, AND (3) IF PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCE JUVENILE RESPONSE TO TREATMENT. OF THE 77 BOYS AGED 11 TO 17 IN THE SAMPLE, 57 RECEIVED 1 HOUR PER DAY OF TRAINING FOR 4 DAYS IN CONFLICT CONCEPTS AND IN CONFLICT REDUCTION. BOTH THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND THE CONTROL GROUP WERE TESTED USING THE ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE AND JESNESS INVENTORY. IT WAS FOUND THAT THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND THE CONTROL GROUP ON THE DIMENSIONS OF MATURITY LEVEL, PERSONALITY FACTORS, AND SENTIMENT TOWARDS SELF AND OTHERS, ALL MEASURED BY THE JESNESS INVENTORY. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS WERE NOT FOUND IN ATTITUDE TOWARD CONFLICT AS MEASURED BY THE CONFLICT ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE. COMPARING HIGH MATURITY BOYS WITH LOW MATURITY BOYS, IT WAS FOUND THAT THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES ON THE VARIABLES MATURITY LEVEL, PERSONALITY FACTORS, AND SENTIMENT TOWARDS SELF AND OTHERS, ALL MEASURED BY THE JESNESS INVENTORY SCALE. EXAMINING ATTITUDE TOWARD CONFLICT AS MEASURED BY THE CONFLICT ATTITUDE INVENTORY, IT WAS FOUND THAT THE LOW MATURITY BOYS CHOSE MORE AVOIDANCE RESPONSES THAN HIGH MATURITY BOYS. IT WAS ALSO FOUND THAT THE HIGH MATURITY BOYS COMPROMISED MORE OFTEN. A LIST OF REFERENCES, DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS, AND TABLES ARE INCLUDED. (MLC)