Alienation & Juvenile Offenders

Alienation can be defined as "a state or process in which something is lost by or estranged from the person who originally possessed it." (Harre & Lamb, 1983, p.19). Harre & Lamb (1983) also note that the term juvenile delinquency often refers to antisocial, immoral, or deviant behavior, as well as actually criminal behavior. They further state that juvenile delinquency may occur in up to 30.8% of the adolescent population; that males are up to ten times as likely to be delinquents as females; that the most common occurrences involve stealing; and that "there is a well established connection between delinquency and disturbed home background and family conflict." (p.142).

A great deal of research has been done to establish and clarify the link between dysfunctional family systems and delinquency. Many researchers have hypothesized that family dysfunction leads to a feeling of alienation (i.e. having lost the loving connection with the family) in the adolescent, which in turn contributes to his delinquent behavior by eroding his attachment to and respect for the family in particular and society in general. The theory is, then, that insofar as the adolescent feels he has little or nothing to lose (like the love of his family) and everything to gain (such as adult and peer attention and material goods) by acting in an antisocial manner, he will do so.

In this paper I will examine some of the studies which have explored alienation as a possible causal factor of juvenile delin

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amily cohesion (as perceived by the adolescent) is associated with increased levels of alienation and increased reports of delinquency, just as the general theory discussed at the outset of this paper hypothesized. Alienation may be related to social skills as well as to family functioning and social stressors. Veneziano & Veneziano (1988) assessed the social skills of 411 male juvenile delinquents (11-16 years old) using measures of personality, behavior, intelligence, educational skills, and knowledge of social skills. They found that those subjects with the least knowledge of social skills had the highest rates of delinquent behavior and the widest variety of behavior problems. This suggests that fewer social skills may be either a product or a cause (or a little of both) of the alienation exhibited by so many juvenile delinquents. At this point, the direction of causation remains unknown due to the purely correlational nature of the studies on the subject. DeMan and Devisse (1987) hypothesized that alienation might also be related to,locus of control, mental ability, and self-esteem. Using a self-esteem inventory, alienation scale, social reaction inventory, and the Gamma Test of the Otis Quick-Scoring Mental Ability Te

Category: Psychology - A