7
Socialization and Personality
WalterC.Recklessn/an/an/an/a,
Simonn/aDinitzn/an/an/an/a,
and Ellenn/aMurrayn/an/an/an/a
Self Concept as an Insulator Against Delinquency1
This study is concerned with sixth-grade boys in the highest delinquency
areas in Columbus, Ohio, who have not become delinquent and who are not
expected to become delinquent. What insulates an early teen-age boy against
delinquency? Is it possible to identify certain components that enable
young adolescent boys to develop or maintain non-delinquent habits and
patterns of behavior in the growing up process?
METHODOLOGY
In order to study the non-delinquent boy, all 30 sixth grade teachers in
schools located in the highest white delinquency areas in Columbus were
asked to nominate those white boys who would not, in their opinion, ever
experience police or juvenile court contact. Treating each nominee
separately, the teachers were then requested to indicate their reasons for
the selection of a particular boy. Of the eligible students, 192, or just
over half, were selected and evaluated by their teachers as being
"insulated" against delinquency. A check of police and juvenile court
records
revealed that 16 (8.3 per cent) of those nominated had some type of law
enforcement record, and these boys were eliminated from further
consideration. Repeated neighborhood visits failed to locate 51 others. In
the remaining cases both the boy and his mother were interviewed.
The 125 "good" boys comprising the final sample were given a series of
four self-administered scales to complete. These included, in somewhat
modified form, (1) the delinquency proneness and (2) social responsibility
scales of the Gough California Personality Inventory, (3) an occupational
preference instrument, (4) and one measuring the boy’s conception of self,
his family and other interpersonal relations. At the same time, though
not in the presence of the nominee, the mother or mother-surrogate was
interviewed with an open-ended schedule to determine the boy’s
developmental history, his patterns of association, and the family
situation.…
FINDINGS
An analysis of the scores made by these 125 nominees on the delinquency
vulnerability (De) and social responsibility (Re) scales seemed to justify
their selection as "good" boys. Out of a possible total (De) score of 54
scores ranged from a low of 4 to a high of 34 with a mean of 14.57 and a
standard deviation of 6.4. This mean score was significantly lower than
that of school behavior problem boys, young delinquents or reformatory
inmates investigated in other studies. In fact, the De score of the sample
subjects was below that obtained in all but one previous study using the
same scale.
For a twelve year old group, the nominees scored remarkably high on the
social responsibility scale. The mean Re score for the group was 28.86 with
a standard deviation of 3.60 and a range of 12 to 40 out of possible 42
points. This mean score was appreciably higher than that achieved by school
disciplinary cases, delinquents, and prisoners tested in other studies. The
correlation between the two sets of scores was —.605, indicating a
significant and negative relationship between delinquency vulnerability and
social responsibility as measured by these instruments.
In response to self-evaluation items, the 125 boys portrayed themselves
as law-abiding and obedient. Specifically, the vast majority defined
themselves as being stricter about right and wrong than most people,
indicated that they tried to conform to the expectations of their
parents, teachers and others.2 The nominees did not conceive of
themselves as prospects for juvenile court action or detention,3
and they stated that their participation in such activities as stealing had
been minimal and that their friends were either entirely or almost
completely free of police and juvenile court contact. As part of their
conformity pattern, the respondents rarely played "hookey" from school and
almost without exception indicated a liking for school. Finally, the "good"
boys visualized themselves as being about average in ability, activity
level, and aggressiveness. When asked "What do you think keeps boys out of
trouble?" the respondents listed parental direction (a good home),
non-deviant companions, and work, as well as other conventional answers. It
would
therefore appear that the internalization of these non-deviant attitudes
played a significant role in the "insulation" of these boys.
Nominee perceptions of family interaction also appeared to be highly
favorable.… The 125 families were stable maritally, residentially,
and economically. There appeared to be close parental supervision of the
boys’ activities and associates, an intense parental interest in the
welfare of the children, and a desire to indoctrinate them with non-deviant
attitudes and patterns. This parental supervision and interest seemed to
be the outstanding characteristic of the family profiles. It extended over
the entire range of their sons’ activities—from friendship patterns,
leisure activities, and after school employment to movie attendance and the
performance of well-defined duties at home. Thus, as regards companions,
for example, the mothers almost without exception stated that they knew the
boys’ friends, that these friends were good boys and that, in fact, the
boys couldn’t have chosen better companions. The mothers also knew the
whereabouts of their sons at almost all times and many insisted on this
knowledge.
Despite this intensive supervision, the boys did not feel themselves to
be unduly restricted. In general, the nominees appeared satisfied with the
amount of parental affection and attention and with the quality of
discipline and punishment given them. They viewed their home life as
pleasant and their parents as understanding.
Low and high scores on the delinquency proneness scale and their
respective mothers did not differ significantly in their evaluation of
these various aspects of family interaction. Of the 22 home background
variables tested—ranging from the percentage of boys from broken homes to
parental favoritism—none was found to be significantly related to the
delinquency proneness scores. This finding was hardly surprising in view of
the non-representative character of the sample group and the relatively
small amount of variation in the family settings. It may also well be that
in defining his interpersonal and family relationships favorably, the
"good" boy, regardless of the degree of his "goodness" as measured by
various scales, is in fact expressing the positive attitudes and
perceptions that are important components in his "goodness."
While there was no appreciable variation in aspects of family
interaction between the low and high scorers, the boys as a group and their
mothers as a group did differ significantly in some of their evaluations.
These differences were largely centered around the activity level of the
boys, the definitions of fairness and severity of parental punishment, and
the amount of bickering in the home. Mothers thought their sons to be more
active, punishment to be less frequent and severe, and parental tranquility
to be more pervasive than did the nominees. Most significantly, perhaps,
the mothers expressed less satisfaction with the role played by the boys’
fathers than did the boys. Briefly, the mother pictured their husbands as
being relatively aloof and rigid in the affectional relationships with
their sons. The nominees, however, could not differentiate between their
parents in this regard.
These divergences in perceptions may largely reflect age, sex, and role
differences in expectations of what constitutes satisfaction with family
relationships. Consequently, predictive tables based on the parents’
conception of the boy and his relationships would necessarily be different
in many particulars from those based on the boys’ conceptions.
CONCLUSION
"Insulation" against delinquency on the part of these boys may be viewed
as an ongoing process reflecting an internalization of non-delinquent
values and conformity
to the expectations of significant others. Whether the subjects,
now largely unreceptive to delinquent norms of conduct, will continue to
remain "good" in the future remains problematic. The answer to this
question, it is felt, will depend on their ability to maintain their
present self-images in the face of mounting situational pressures.
While this pilot study points to the presence of a socially acceptable
concept of self as the insulator against delinquency, the research does not
indicate how the boy in the high delinquency area acquired his self image.
It may have been acquired by social definition of role from significant
figures in his milieu, such as a mother, a relative, a priest, a settlement
house worker, a teacher, etc. It might have been a by-product of effective
socialization of the child, which had the good fortune of not misfiring. On
the other hand, it may have been an outgrowth of discovery in social
experience that playing the part of the good boy and remaining a good boy
bring maximum satisfactions (of acceptance) to the boy himself. Finally,
there is a strong suspicion that a well-developed concept of self as a
"good boy" is the component which keeps middle- and upper-class boys, who
live in the better neighborhoods, out of delinquency. The point is that
this component seems to be strong enough to "insulate" the adolescent
against the delinquency in the unfavorable neighborhoods.
1 From , 1956, 21:744–746. By
permission.
2 Nearly 60 per cent of the boys thought they were stricter about right
and wrong than most people; 85 per cent tried to escape trouble at all
costs; 81 per cent stressed their obedience to their parents wishes, and 81
per cent were concerned with the reaction of friends and others to their
behavior. These and other data were based on response to items in one or
more of the four instruments used.
3 For example, 70 per cent of the boys in answering the questions on the Morlock
scale seemed certain that they would never be brought before the Juvenile court; only
one respondent believed he would have future contact with the court.
Two-thirds indicated certainty about never being taken to jail. Some 57 per
cent did not rule out the possibility of becoming policemen.