The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between juvenile re-delinquency and home, school, social-environmental, and psychological factors and was to predict the rate of juvenile re-delinquency. The research questions of this stu...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between juvenile re-delinquency and home, school, social-environmental, and psychological factors and was to predict the rate of juvenile re-delinquency. The research questions of this study are as follows:
1. What are the home environmental factors which affect juvenile re-delinquency?
2. What are the school environmental factors which affect juvenile re-delinquency?
3. What are the social-environmental factors which affect juvenile re-delinquency?
4. What are the psychological factors which affect juvenile re-delinquency?
5. How much do the effects of those interacting factors influence the prediction of juvenile re-delinquency?
The 5310 subjects studied were those who entered the Juvenile Classification and Examination Office from January, 1997 to December, 1997. Data regarding the home, school, social-environmental and psychological variables of juvenile delinquents were collected from the office.
The statistical methods applied for the data analysis were the chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, and discriminant analysis. The statistical computations were done by SPSS.
The major findings of this study were as follows:
First, among the home environmental factors, the age differences between juvenile delinquents and their father, and their father's discipline had the most significant effect on juvenile re-delinquency. Therefore, there should be parent-education programs towards the prevention of juvenile re-delinquency.
Second, there was a significant relationship between study motivation and preferred subjects in terms of juvenile re-delinquency. The stronger the study motivation juvenile delinquents have, the better control they had over temptations toward juvenile re-delinquency. On the other hand, if they feel frustrated studying and they didn't have distinct goals, they run into the danger of re-delinquency. Therefore, there should be various vocational and educational programs to enhance the study motivations of juvenile delinquents.
Third, whether juvenile delinquents have the tattoos on their bodies or not, and how many times they ran away from home had the significant effects on juvenile re-delinquency. The results show, that for juvenile delinquents, to have body tattoos and experiences of running away from home, makes them increasingly feel branded from society as juvenile delinquents. Therefore, society should change it's perception towards juvenile delinquents, and there should be systematic improvements for juvenile delinquents.
Fourth, according to the psychological factors, there were no significant relationships between the results of the aptitude tests, intelligence tests, and MMPI and juvenile re-delinquency. This shows that there might be a variable selection of problems and there should be treatment programs to help solve the difficulties in the home, school, and other social environments of juvenile delinquents.
Fifth, the above results show that the relationships between the juvenile re-delinquency and the home, the school, as well as social-environmental and psychological factors can be better understood when we examine those factors with an integrated point of view. Therefore, we should have a multi-dimensional point of view to prevent juvenile re-delinquency.