Neuropsychological and Psychosocial Factors of Delinquency: a Comparative Study

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the differences in the neuropsychological and psychosocial makeup of delinquents and non delinquents. The sample consisted of 93 delinquents adjudicated in an Observation Home situated at Ludhiana, India and 107 non-delinquents with age range of 13-17 years in both the groups. They were administered Raven’s Progressive Matrices test, Bender Gestalt test, Stroop Color and Word test, Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire- Revised and Family Environment Scale. t-test was applied to compare the groups on the neuropsychological, personality and family environment measures. The results revealed that delinquents and non-delinquents differ significantly on the neuropsychological indices of intelligence, perceptual motor performance and language function. Delinquents scored lower in non verbal intelligence test and also exhibited impairment in perceptual motor and lingual spheres reflecting the probability of learning disabilities in them. Further, significant group differences were found on the psychoticism and extraversion dimensions of personality. Delinquents scored higher on psychoticism but lower on extraversion than the non delinquent group. The results also revealed significant group differences on the perception of family environment dimensions. In the Relationship dimensions, the delinquents perceived their families to be lower on cohesion and expressiveness but higher on conflict than the non delinquents. The delinquents reported their family environments to be lower than the non delinquents on all the Personal Growth dimensions i.e. independence, achievement orientation, intellectual cultural orientation, active recreational orientation and moral religious emphasis. Further, the delinquent group perceived their families to be lower than the control group on the System Maintenance dimensions of organization and control.