NCJ Number
14591
Date Published
Unknown
Length
10 pages
Annotation
STUDY RESULTS TAKEN OVER AN EIGHT MONTH PERIOD, CORRELATING SUCH FACTORS AS AGE, GRADE PLACEMENT SCORES, ACADEMIC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, AND DELINQUENT TYPE.
Abstract
IN ORDER TO FACILITATE THE FORMULATION OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES FOR INSTITUTIONALIZED JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, THE CALIFORNIA ACHIEVEMENT TEST SCORES OF 60 JUVENILES DELINQUENTS (30 NEUROTIC AND 30 PSYCHOPATHIC) WERE STATISTICALLY ANALYZED. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN TOTAL ACHIEVEMENT WERE FOUND BETWEEN THE TWO TYPES OF DELINQUENTS. THE 16-YEAR-OLDS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY FURTHER BEHIND THEIR EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL THAN THE TWO YOUNGER GROUPS. T-TESTS COMPUTED BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS WITHIN EACH SUBTEST AREA INDICATED THAT THE NEUROTIC DELINQUENTS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN THE PSYCHOPATHIC DELINQUENTS IN ALL ACADEMIC AREAS EXCEPT MATH. NO SIGNIFICANT INTERACTION BETWEEN GROUPS AND TESTS WAS NOTED IN A REPEATED MEASUREMENTS DESIGN. SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DIFFERENT ACADEMIC AREAS WERE FOUND IN THE TWO GROUPS COMBINED. FROM LOWEST TO HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT, THE MEASURED AREAS WERE: 1) MATH COMPUTATION, 2) ENGLISH USAGE, 3) ENGLISH MECHANICS, 4) SPELLING, 5) READING COMPREHENSION, 6) MATH CONCEPTS & PROBLEMS, AND 7) READING VOCABULARY. THE AUTHORS SUGGEST THAT THE ACADEMIC RETARDATION OF THE OLDER DELINQUENTS MAY BE DUE TO PREVIOUS INSTITUTIONALIZATION, WHICH MAY HAVE CAUSED IRREGULAR SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. ALSO, THE DELINQUENTS WERE FOUND TO BE RELATIVELY WEAK IN AREAS WHICH REQUIRE MEMORIZATION AND REPETITIVE PRACTICE. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)