NCJ Number
137684
Date Published
Unknown
Length
33 pages
Annotation
The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) was administered to 193 institutionalized male youthful offenders in a southern U.S. State and to 161 male youthful offenders confined in an English youthful offender institution.
Abstract
The study's purpose was to determine if self-concept scores of subjects differed significantly according to country, whether youth resided with one or both parents or lived separately from either parent, and race. Preliminary analysis revealed that TSCS scores of U.S. and English subjects, as well as subscale scores that together made up the total self-concept score, were significantly lower than normal. Scores of U.S. subjects were more abnormal than those of English subjects; in some instances, U.S. scores were so extreme as to suggest the presence of serious psychopathological maladjustment. Discriminant function analysis was used to analyze the effects of 12 self-concept measures in distinguishing subjects' country, residence, and race. This analysis correctly classified group membership more than two-thirds of the time and produced moderate to strong correlation coefficient values. Results indicated that delinquents have lower self-concepts than nondelinquents, that black delinquents have even lower perceptions of themselves than white delinquents, that differences in self-concept are more likely to be the product of cultural versus genetic differences, and that differences in self-concept are not the result of the justice system's negatively labeling delinquents. 24 references and 9 tables