NCJ Number
76502
Journal
Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (1977) Pages: 27-56
Date Published
1977
Length
30 pages
Annotation
Psychotic and social deviancy characteristics were investigated in 808 British children aged 8 through 15 through a battery of psychological tests for the purpose of predicting delinquent behavior.
Abstract
The subjects were all white, middle-class junior and senior school boys and girls. The children completed a group of tests, including the Children's Scale of Social Attitudes, Person Perception Stereotyping Tests, and a self-reporting behavior questionnaire. Teachers completed the Schale Teacher Rating Scale. Children with high psychotic (P) scores exhibited deviant social behavior of a delinquent nature and held deviant, nonconforming social attitudes reflecting a tough-minded, hostile, and sexually liberal disposition. When the scores of high and low P subjects were compared, high P individuals were found to respond in a masculine direction on all tests used, suggesting that the nature of P overlaps considerably with 'masculinity.' Cluster analysis indicated that high P was more misplaced in girls than in boys, since high P girls were identified as a special 'type,' while high P boys were not. Although the P scale has been shown to be an important predictor of childhood delinquent behavior, modification is needed, particularly in the area of scale polarity. Only two or three scale points discriminate among the majority of children, making the scale less than totally satisfactory for clinical use. Tabular data, two footnotes, and 111 references are included. (Author abstract modified)