U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

SELF-CONCEPT AND DELINQUENCY PRONENESS

NCJ Number
44564
Journal
Adolescence Volume: 12 Issue: 48 Dated: (WINTER 1977) Pages: 559-569
Author(s)
F R JONES; M T SWAIN
Date Published
1977
Length
11 pages
Annotation
DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AND RESPONSE TO BEHAVIOR MANIPULATION AMONG DELINQUENT-PRONE AND NON-DELINQUENT-PRONE MALE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AN INNER-CITY SETTING ARE EXPLORED.
Abstract
FROM A SAMPLE OF 225 BOYS AGED 12 TO 14, TWO STUDY GROUPS WERE SELECTED: 45 CHARACTERIZED AS DELINQUENT-PRONE ON THE BASIS OF A TEST; AND 31 NON-DELINQUENT-PRONE 'BRIGHT' BOYS. THE TWO GROUPS WERE FURTHER DIVIDED FOR PARTICIPATION IN BEHAVIOR MANIPULATION EXPERIMENTS INVOLVING RESPONSES, UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS, TO A CRIPPLED ELDERLY WOMAN IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE AND TO AN OPPORTUNITY TO INFLICT HARM BY ADMINISTERING AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. AFTER THE EXPERIMENTS, THE SUBJECTS COMPLETED A SELF-CONCEPT TEST AND ANSWERED QUESTIONS CONCERNING THEIR FEELINGS ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT. THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT BETWEEN THE DELINQUENT-PRONE AND NON-DELINQUENT-PRONE GROUPS, BUT THERE WERE DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO THE MANIPULATION OF BEHAVIOR. THE FINDINGS ARE CONTRARY TO THE HOMEOSTATIC MODEL OF SELF-CONCEPT, I.E., THE EXPECTANCY THAT ENGAGING IN ANTISOCIAL OR PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR WILL RESULT IN SHIFTS IN SELF-CONCEPT. IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS ARE DISCUSSED. SUPPORTING DATA AND A LIST OF REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED.