Family Environment and Delinquency

Sheldon Glueck, Eleanor Glueck

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415176668
• eBook ISBN: 9781136250354
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

The International Library of Sociology (ILS) is the most important series of books on sociology ever published. Founded in the 1940s by Karl Mannheim, the series became the forum for pioneering research and theory, marked by comparative approaches and analysis of new disciplines, such as the sociology of youth and culture. Spanning volumes by Parsons, Dickinson and Ossowski, the history of the ILS is the history of modern sociology.

PART I

ORIGIN OF TRAITS

III

TRAITS WHICH DO NOT VARY AMONG BODY TYPES: RELATED TO LESS THAN TWO SOCIAL FACTORS

INTRODUCTION

WE turn in this and the succeeding two chapters to the influence of certain aspects of the family environment on the development of those traits (43 in all) that were not found in Physique and Delinquency to vary in incidence among the body types and are therefore not as yet presumed to have a largely constitutional orientation. In Chapters VI and VII we shall consider further the 23 traits already found in the previous work to vary in incidence among the four body types and therefore presumed to be closer to the constitutional than to the sociocultural end of the postulated biosocial continuum.

The 43 physiologic and psychologic traits, the latter derived largely from the Rorschach and psychiatric studies carried on in connection with the gathering of data for the basic work, Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency, from which Physique and Delinquency and the present volume originate, are the following:

Developmental Health History

1. Poor Health in Infancy

2. Extreme Restlessness in Early Childhood

3. Enuresis in Early Childhood

Neurologic Findings

5. Irregular Reflexes

7. Dermographia

Some Aspects of Intelligence

11. Low Verbal Intelligence

12. High Performance Intelligence

13. Originality

14. Banality

15. Marked Power of Observation

16. Intuition

17. Common Sense

18. Intuition

19. Unmethodical Approach to Problems

20. Potential Capacity for Objective Interests

Basic Attitudes to Authority and Society

22. Defiance

24. Ambivalence to Authority

Feelings of Resentment, Anxiety, Inferiority and Frustration

25. Enhanced Feeling of Insecurity

26. Marked Feeling of Not Being Wanted or Loved

27. Feeling of Not Being Taken Care Of

28. Marked Feeling of Not Being Taken Seriously

29. Feeling of Helplessness

30. Feeling of Not Being Appreciated

32. Feeling of Resentment

Feelings of Kindliness and Hostility

33. Poor Surface Contact with Others

34. Hostility

35. Marked Suspiciousness

37. Feeling of Isolation

38. Defensive Attitude

Dependence and Independence

40. Feeling of Being Able to Manage Own Life

Goals of Strivings

41. Narcissistic Trends

42. Receptive Trends

Some General Qualities of Personality

45. Emotional Lability

46. Lack of Self-Control

48. Compulsory Trends

49. Preponderance of Extroversive Trends

50. Preponderance of Introversive Trends

Deep-Rooted Emotional Dynamics

52. Suggestibility

54. Stubbornness

55. Adventurousness

Personality Orientation

62. Lack of Self-Criticism

63. Conscientiousness

Some Aspects of Mental Pathology

67. Neuroticism

68. Psychopathy

For definitions the reader is referred to Appendix Exhibit B-1 where the traits are presented by the same numbers assigned them in the above listing; and for the incidence of the traits among the delinquents and nondelinquents of Unraveling (and to which frequent reference is made in the text of the present work), the reader is referred to Appendix Exhibit B-2 (also by trait numbers).

A word of explanation is necessary concerning the method of analysis of the findings that follow in this and in the succeeding four chapters. It will be recalled from Chapter II that in order to determine the extent and the manner in which social factors (mainly pertaining to the family environment) contribute to the formation of a trait, it was necessary to correlate the trait with each one of 44 social factors encompassed in the inquiry. (These factors are listed and defined in Appendix Exhibit C-1.)

The statistically meaningful results of these correlations are presented trait by trait in Appendix D (also arranged in chronological order by trait number). An explanation has been given in Chapter II of the statistical method of multiple comparisons which has been applied to determine the significance of the variation in the incidence of the same trait among boys of differing social background. As an illustration (see Appendix Table D-43), the incidence of masochistic trends is found to differ significantly in boys from crowded homes as compared to those from uncrowded homes; in boys from families lacking ambition as compared to those reared in families who showed some evidences of wanting to improve their status; in homes in which there were meager recreational facilities as compared to those in which some opportunities for home play were provided; and so on.

Examination of the findings concerning one other trait might be helpful before proceeding with the analysis in this and succeeding chapters. See, for example, Appendix Table D-37, where the results are presented of the significant relationships found between the feeling of isolation and six (out of the 44) social factors.

With these preliminaries, the reader should be able to follow the analyses in the succeeding pages. Although not necessarily always agreeing with them, he will at least know by what method we have arrived at our judgments.

TRAITS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ANY SOCIAL FACTORS

In Physique and Delinquency we suggested that there may well be, among the traits not found to be associated with any physique types, some that are constitutional in their orientation. However, since they were not found to vary significantly in incidence among the four body types, we could not, by that particular test of genetic involvement, determine whether they are closer to the constitutional than to the sociocultural zone of the biosocial continuum.

Now, however, we think it may be suggested that the traits not shown in Physique and Delinquency to vary in incidence among the body types, and also not found in the current inquiry to be related to any of the 44 social factors (or related to only one) may (like eye color, which is not linked to physique type) nevertheless still be largely of genetic determination. Only further and more intensive research on other samples of cases would determine the correctness of this assumption.

There are five such traits (among the 43 now under consideration) to which not even one of the 44 social factors embraced in this study is found to be significantly related.

5. Irregular Reflexes

16. Intuition

33. Poor Surface Contact with Others

45. Emotional Lability

46. Lack of Self-Control

It must be borne in mind that although the factors included in this inquiry are indices of many important environmental influences, they are not exhaustive; no sample of factors can be.

TRAITS TO WHICH ONE SOCIAL FACTOR IS RELATED

We come now to a group of traits, also not shown in Physique and Delinquency to vary in incidence among the body types and therefore not deemed, by that criterion, to be constitutionally oriented, which are now found to be significantly associated with only one of the 44 social factors.

1. Poor Health in Infancy

4. Enuresis in Early Childhood

19. Unmethodical Approach to Problems

20. Potential Capacity for Objective Interests

22. Defiance

24. Ambivalence to Authority

55. Adventurousness

67. Psychopathy

Whether or not the single association has occurred by chance it is impossible to say with assurance ; however, it seems reasonable to suggest that if the trait were essentially the product of environmental conditioning, a statistically significant association would probably exist with more than a single social factor. Hence, although it appears reasonable to assume that such traits are closer to the biologic than to the sociocultural pole of the biosocial continuum, we are not completely secure in this conclusion and await further evidence. There may well be traits in which the relationship between ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• Preface
• INTRODUCTION
• PART I: ORIGIN OF TRAITS
• PART II: FAMILY ENVIRONMENT, TRAITS AND DELINQUENCY
• CONCLUSION
• APPENDICES
• Index