DELINQUENCY, PARENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, AND PARENTAL CRIMINALITY - CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL FINDINGS

• NCJ Number: 56887
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: (SUMMER 1976) Pages: 665-678
• Author(s): D O LEWIS; D BALLA; S SHANOK; L SNELL
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 14 pages
• Grant Number(s): A70-9001-108
• Sponsoring Agency: Connecticut Criminal Justice Cmssn; US Dept of Justice
• Corporate Author: Yale University Press
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

FOUR GROUPS OF PARENTS FROM CONNECTICUT WERE USED TO EVALUATE CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS THAT SEVERELY DISTURBED PARENTS WILL HAVE CHILDREN WHO MANIFEST INCREASED SOCIAL DEVIANCE AND PSYCHIATRIC IMPAIRMENT.

Abstract

THE STUDY SAMPLE CONSISTED OF THE FOLLOWING: (1) ALL IDENTIFIABLE PARENTS OF CHILDREN REFERRED TO A JUVENILE COURT CLINIC DURING ITS FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION; (2) ALL IDENTIFIABLE PARENTS OF CHILDREN REFERRED DURING THE CLINIC'S SECOND YEAR; (3) A RANDOM SAMPLE OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN REFERRED TO THE JUVENILE COURT BUT NOT TO THE CLINIC; AND (4) A RANDOM SAMPLE OF PERSONS RESIDING IN A PREDOMINATELY LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC SECTOR OF NEW HAVEN. FOR ALL INTERNAL COMPARISONS INVOLVING THE THREE DELINQUENT GROUPS, THE SUBJECTS WERE SCREENED TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEY HAD RECEIVED PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT AT ANY OF THE SIX MAJOR STATE PSYCHIATRIC FACILITIES. IN COMPARISONS OF THE THREE DELINQUENT GROUPS WITH THE FOURTH COMMUNITY GROUP, A HISTORY OF TREATMENT AT ONE OR BOTH OF NEW HAVEN'S STATE FACILITIES WAS USED. CONSIDERABLE SUPPORT WAS FOUND FOR THE CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS THAT IN MANY INSTANCES DELINQUENCY AND PARENTAL CRIMINALITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY REPRESENT A COMMON UNDERLYING DIFFICULTY IN ADAPTATION ON THE PART OF AN ENTIRE FAMILY. THE PREVALENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT WAS GREATER BOTH IN THE PARENTS OF CLINIC-REFERRED AND NONCLINIC-REFERRED JUVENILE DELINQUENTS THAN IN THE GENERAL POPULATION OF CONNECTICUT OR IN THE SOCIOECONOMICALLY SIMILAR SAMPLE OF NEW HAVEN RESIDENTS. ADDITIONALLY, FATHERS WITH PSYCHIATRIC HISTORIES TENDED TO MARRY MOTHERS WITH SIMILAR HISTORIES, AS DID FATHERS WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT THERE EXISTS A SUBSET OF DELINQUENT CHILDREN WHOSE BEHAVIOR IS NOT ENTIRELY EXPLAINED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES. IT WOULD SEEM REASONABLE TO INTERPRET THE BEHAVIOR OF THIS SUBSET AS REFLECTING THE FOLLOWING: (1) AN INABILITY OF THE PARENTS TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SOCIALIZATION AND SUPERVISION BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN PERVASIVE PSYCHIATRIC DISTURBANCE AND (2) A POSSIBLE INTRINSIC VULNERABILITY WITHIN SOME OF THESE CHILDREN WHICH MAKES THEM LESS ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE STRESSES OF AN UNSUPPORTIVE FAMILY AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (KBL)