NCJ Number
70341
Journal
Child Psychiatry Quarterly Issue: 2 Dated: (1980) Pages: 52-59
Date Published
1980
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Female juvenile delinquents were tested to discover aspects of their personalities and degrees to which they were able to adjust to various environments as compared to nondelinquent female juveniles; the study took place in India.
Abstract
Two groups of 100 subjects between the ages of 12 and 18 were selected randomly from respectively delinquent and nondelinquent Indian populations. Mittal's Adjustment Inventory was used to test the adjustment of the girls to their homes and school or college and to test social, health, and emotional dimensions. Their personalities were tested regarding Extroversion and Neuroticism according to the EPI scale and regarding feminity, desurgency, and submissiveness according to the NSQ scale. Delinquent girls scored lower on adjustment rates in all four areas -- home, health and emotional, social and school or college. Delinquents scored highly on the NSQ scale, with regard to anxiety but much lower on femininity (showing toughness and masculinity), desurgency (showing depression), and submissiveness versus dominance (showing a tendency toward dominance, assertiveness, aggressiveness, and competitiveness). These neurotic trends were further supported by the delinquents' high score on EPI neuroticism as compared to nondelinquent girls. These neurotic, more anxious, masculine, dominant, extroverted, depressive, and socially and emotionally maladjusted tendencies seem to point to an overall profile of female juvenile delinquents. Tables and 33 references are provided.