About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

5 Brit. J. Delinq. 46 (1954-1955)
Family or Sibship Position and Some Aspects of Juvenile Delinquency

handle is hein.journals/brijode5 and id is 54 raw text is: FAMILY OR SIBSHIP POSITION AND SOME ASPECTS OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY By J. P. LEES AND L. J. NEWSON (NoTTINGHAM) PART I INTRODUCTORY 1. WHY THE ENQUIRY WAS UNDERTAKEN In a study by J. P. Lees (1952) of a group of male working-class adults who had been coal-miners and also part-time students at a University College in the Midlands, it was found that those occupying the different sibship positions of eldest (first born, not merely first born male) and intermediate (neither first nor last born) showed differences in behaviour which proved statistically significant. Because of the small number of those occupying the position of youngest (last born, not merely last born male) it was only possible to compare the eldests with the intermediates. The comparison revealed, firstly, that, while the activity of the eldests appeared to be related to that of their siblings, that of the intermediates did not, and, secondly (which is more important in the present connexion) that the eldests were much more successful in individual activity than the intermediates, who proved most successful in group activity. Reflection upon these findings led to consideration of the experiences to which (amongst working-class males, in childhood, in connexion with the family) eldests on the one hand and intermediates on the other were liable to be subjected. The conclusion was reached that eldests were liable to have certain similar experiences, intermediates another series of experiences in common, and that from these experiences there tended to develop in eldests one typical common attitude to life and in intermediates another common attitude. The development of such different typical attitudes, it was suggested, accounted in part for the behavioural differences found between the eldest and the intermediate adult males who formed the subject of the study. If, for the reasons sug- gested above, eldests tend to develop one typical common attitude to life and intermediates another, youngests also will tend to develop yet another common attitude. These different attitudes will tend to show themselves in differences of behaviour. When the present writers found that records of juvenile delinquents (age eight to seventeen inclusive) compiled by a County authority gave the size 46

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most