IMPULSIVENESS AND AGGRESSION AMONG ISRAELI DELINQUENTS

• NCJ Number: 64593
• Journal: BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Volume: 18 Dated: (1979) Pages: 59-63
• Author(s): M ROTENBERG; I NACHSHOM
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

ISRAELI DELINQUENTS SHOWED A PREDOMINANT PATTERN OF IMPULSIVENESS, IN THE NARROW SENSE OF HASTINESS OR IMPATIENCE, RATHER THAN AGGRESSION AGAINST OTHERS ACCORDING TO THIS STUDY.

Abstract

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMPULSIVENESS AND AGGRESSION, ON THE ONE HAND, AND DELINQUENCY, ON THE OTHER, WAS INVESTIGATED IN TWO GROUPS OF ISRAEL JUVENILE DELINQUENTS (D'S) AND NONDELIQUENTS (ND'S). ON THE BASIS OF ISRAEL JUVENILE PROBATION STATISTICS, WHICH REPORT LOW RATES OF REFERRALS INVOLVING ASSAULTS AGAINST PEOPLE, IT WAS HYPOTHESIZED THAT, WHILE THE D'S MIGHT NOT DIFFER FROM ND'S IN THEIR AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, DELINQUENCY IN ISRAEL MIGHT NEVERTHELESS BE EXPRESSED IN OTHER, MILDER FORMS OF UNCONTROLLED BEHAVIOR SUCH AS IMPULSIVENESS. HOWEVER, ISRAELI D'S MIGHT BE EXPECTED TO BE MORE IMPULSIVE THAN ND'S. THIRTY-ONE JUVENILE D'S LIVING IN A CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION AND 54 JUVENILE ND'S FROM AN ORDINARY VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL NEAR JERUSALEM WERE TESTED. ALL SUBJECTS WERE ISRAELI-BORN MALES, RANGING FROM 14 TO 17 YEARS OLD, WITH A LARGELY WORKING-CLASS BACKGROUND AND AFRO-ASIAN ETHNIC ORIGINS. IMPULSIVENESS WAS MEASURED BY KAGAN'S 1965 MATCHING FAMILIAR FIGURE (MFF) AND AGGRESSION, BY ROTENBERG'S 1974 AWAKENING MACHINE TECHNIQUE. FINDINGS SUPPORTED THE HYPOTHESIS, SHOWING THAT WHILE D'S WERE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE IMPULSIVE (HASTY RESPONDERS) THAN ND'S, THEY WERE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE AGGRESSIVE. IN ADDITION, D'S WERE MORE HOMOGENEOUS IN THEIR QUICK RESPONSES. THE STUDY ALSO PROVIDES FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE VALIDITY OF THE MFF AS A TEST OF IMPULSIVENESS IN ITS NARROW SENSE. IT APPEARS THAT THE PREDOMINANT PATTERN CHARACTERIZED IN THE DELINQUENTS TESTED IS IMPULSIVENESS RATHER THAN AGGRESSION. FUTURE RESEARCH SHOULD INVESTIGATE THE INTERRELATEDNESS BETWEEN AND THE DIFFERENTIAL MEANING OF SUCH TERMS AS IMPULSIVENESS, AGGRESSION, AND ANTISOCIAL OR VIOLENT BEHAVIOR WHICH ARE OFTEN USED AS SYNONYMOUS TERMS FOR DELINQUENCY. REFERENCES ARE GIVEN. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--AOP)