Psychosocial Profile of Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency has become the most important subject matter of discussion in various fields. The disarray and destruction due to deviant behavior is assuming alarming proportions which is an awakening call to the society. The present study aims to assess various psychosocial factors which play a crucial part in the exhibition of delinquency behavior. Purposive sampling was implemented to collect data after obtaining informed consent from a sample of 30 juveniles (15 heinous and 15 non heinous offenders). Independent sample t test is used to see the difference of the different variables between heinous and non heinous offenses and product moment correlation is used to find the relationship between the different variables. Results indicated that resilience factors like emotional insight, empathy, and availability of the family, connectedness with family, negative cognition and social skills are found to have correlation with delinquent behavior. Temperamental characteristics like activation control, attention, inhibitory control and perceptual sensitivity is negatively correlated with the delinquent behavior while aggression is positively correlated. Significant difference is also found in these factors between heinous and no heinous offenses. It is also found that attachment with mother and peers play an important role in exhibiting delinquent behavior.