NCJ Number
131173
Journal
Child Welfare Volume: 70 Issue: 4 Dated: (July-August 1991) Pages: 489-502
Date Published
1991
Length
14 pages
Annotation
A sample of 50 children living in various residential facilities in New York for care of clinical and social problems was studied in order to determine whether indicators of proclivity to fire-setting in children could be identified.
Abstract
Half the sample had minor fire-setting histories, defined as accidental or occasional fire-starting behaviors such as lighting matches while unsupervised. Severe fire-setting behaviors were defined as deliberate, planned, and persistent; the children in this group continued, even in residential care, to set fires that threatened life and property. Thirty-five quantitative and qualitative variables have been associated with fire-setting. Psychological test data, psychiatric evaluation, and social histories of the 50 subjects were examined for the presence or absence of these variables. Persistent fire-setters were found to have personalities that functioned at lower developmental levels. They harbored resentment and feelings of maternal neglect and abuse. Many of these children developed aggressive fantasies and behaved cruelly toward younger children or animals. They were deficient in self-control and became sexually aroused by fire. Five variables associated with occasional fire-setters included separation anxiety, obsessive-compulsive traits, a wish for reunion with an absent father, a more mature superego development, and feelings of remorse over fire-setting. Children who were not impulsive, could relate to others, and understood cause-and-effect relations were less at risk of becoming persistent fire-setters. 2 tables and 22 references