Motivational Analysis of Adolescent Fire Setters (From Children, Evidence and Procedure, P 41-45, 1993, Noel K Clark and Geoffrey M Stephenson, eds. -- See NCJ-150558)

• NCJ Number: 150565
• Author(s): T Swaffer
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: British Psychological Soc
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Theoretical explanations of the motivation of juvenile fire setters indicate that fire setting behavior is related to antisocial characteristics of children and to conduct disorders.

Abstract

Early psychoanalytical theories considered fire setting to be associated with enuresis and the phallic urethral level of personal development. More recent learning theories tend to perceive fire setting behavior as a maladaptive coping strategy which depends on environmental stresses and internal affective states of discomfort. Other researchers have diagnosed juvenile fire setters as antisocial individuals with conduct disorders. Delinquent fire setters rarely present with fire setting as their only problem, while destructive fire setters are usually young people with poor social and anger expression skills. Pathological fire setters include young people who tend to be fixated with fire and its properties. Case histories of delinquent, destructive, and pathological fire setters are included. 9 references