DELINQUENCY IN CHILDREN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27151, 22 September 1953, Page 7

DELINQUENCY IN CHILDREN

PREDICTION AND PREVENTION

PROFESSOR HAVIGHURST’S ADDRESS “Undoubtedly the homes are the cause of most cases of delinquency and maladjustment in children—?if we could screen* them we might get somewhere,” said Dr. Robert J. Havighurst, visiting professor in education from the University of Chicago, at Canterbury University College, in an address in Christchurch last evening. Accessibility meant that the best observations so far could be made through the schools but the big problem was to find sufficient people to stay with the child over a long period to.give assistance.

The education laboratory at the university was crowded for this second lecture in the course on a variety of topics being given by Professor Havighurst on Monday evenings. All seats were taken, people sat on desks, and at least a dozen on the floor.

“I regard prediction of delinquency and maladjustment essentially as a practically orientated research aimed at prevention,” Professor Havighurst said at the outset. If the children who were vulnerable could be detected there was a good chance of helping them avoid trouble just as they might avoid disease to which they might be susceptible. Professor Havighurst divided the maladjusted into “aggressive” and “withdrawn” categories—the first not necessarily prone to violence but to infringement of the rights of others; the second who tended to draw away from the scene of life and ignore consequences.

Characteristics In Prediction After reviewing five American investigations he fisted some common characteristics confirmed by most of these groups to be indicative of vulnerability. They were: aggressive maladjustment—fighting, destructiveness, incorrigibility, ' boastfulness, truancy, rudeness, lying, and stealing; withdrawn maladjustment—shyness, apathy, worrying, submissiveness, sensitiveness, seclusiveness, inferiority feelings, day dreaming, and restlessness. Some of these might appear synonymous bu,t, Professor Havighurst said, the investigators found distinctions. There were many more characteristics. *

“The wife of a doctor I know once told me that on seeing this list she was worried about her whole family,” Professor Havighurst said, “but let me assure you that a pattern emerges more definitely.” Antecedent provocative circumstances had also been correlated. One team had made the classification of the aggressive maladjusted this way:— socialised delinquents (those who got on well enough in their own gang) were found often to have been subject to irregular home routine, lack of supervision, lax discipline, and shielding by one parent agaiftst the other. Unsocialised delinquents (those who seemed to rebel against even their fellows) often had histories of unwanted pregnancy, rejection by parents, parental hostility, harshness, or cruelty. The groups’s home circumstances often included hypercritical, unsociable, or domineering parents, and inconsistent discipline. Professor Havighurst cited some case histories giving vivid evidence of domestic circumstances, personalities, and behaviour in the home and lack of supervision leading in one case to homicide by a 14-year-old. This lad was found guilty, but released on appeal on evidence that he did not know the difference between right or wrong. “Twenty-five thousand dollars was spent on those trials. It might have been applied to prediction and prevention of delinquency,” Professor Havighurst said. Experimental Programme Describing a project which he had initiated, Professor Havighurst said screening began about the age of nine. Besides surveying socio-economic circumstaces generally, an effort was made to get a quick, simple procedure whereby cases which needed watching could be detected. The rating of children by their teachers was found as effective as an hour’s interview by a psychiatrist. These two were the main methods used. The teachers were invited to classify their classes for both favourable and unfavourable characteristics and then the children were also invited to answer such questions as:— who breaks the rules in school and games, who is shy of making friends, who gets bothered and upset, who gets mad easily, who is best at games, who helps others most, who is most popular? The questions were well mixed. The circumstances of the top 10 per cent, of seeming vulnerable cases were then investigated by a visiting teacher. tProfessor Havighurst was questioned keenly on whether this encouraged informers, but he said the questions were so framed and the results kept so private to disinterested investigators that theje was little objection.) To cope with problem cases, a group of 75 volunteers (half teachers and half youth workers) had a ninemonths’ training programme of two hours a week and were then divided into teams of seven or eight which might include two teachers, a social worker, a scout leader, a church worker, a public health nurse, and others. They in turn accepted responsibility for a small group of children and endeavoured to use the resources of the community to provide the children with better opportunities.

“My theory is that most peqple who have trouble get one type of help and if that fails they are forgotten or slip through the interstices,” said Professor Havighurst. “If we can get a varied team who will take these cases on their consciences and won’t drop them there is a chance of doing something for the children.” He added that this 10-year plan was in its third year and only one team had changed. In a year’s crop of 400 children about 15 per cent, appeared to need some help. Simple graphs and reports were prepared on all the children of the class and parents invited to the school or to an interview for discussions. “Those who don’t need help come most often, but there are some of the others,” Professor Havighurst said. Advice about help could then be given. He added that there were only five or six proper therapeutic institutions in the world for the treatment of serious cases. Professor Havighurst said a great deal could be achieved by systematic relationships between the school and home.