NCJ Number
136550
Journal
Reports of the National Research Institute of Police Science Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 91-107
Date Published
1991
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The central hypothesis tested by this Japanese study is that the process of habit formation provides children with opportunities to learn social rules through interactions between parents and children; the hypothesis was tested by an examination of whether or not delinquent children tend to have fewer experiences of these behaviors.
Abstract
Subjects of this study consisted of two groups of mother-child pairs. The group of nondelinquent pairs included 200 elementary school children and 282 junior high school students. The other group involved delinquent pairs that consisted of 119 elementary school children and 495 junior high school students. Subjects were queried about the frequency of their experiences of 18 daily-life behaviors. The study also determined whether or not children were able to perform 11 self-controlled habits by themselves. The daily-life behaviors were related to food, clothing, and cleaning and arrangement. Both children and mothers in the delinquent group had fewer experiences in daily life related to food, clothing, and cleaning and arrangement. The nondelinquents thus had a greater variety of daily-life experiences than delinquents. The delinquent children perceived their mothers as being more severe than did the mothers themselves. A smaller proportion of delinquents had formed self-control habits compared to nondelinquents. (Author abstract modified)